


Clash of Worlds Part One: Just Harry

by FSantiago379



Series: Clash of Worlds [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Alternate Canon, BAMF Narcissa Black Malfoy, Bittersweet Ending, Explicit Consent, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Parent Narcissa Black Malfoy, Good Petunia Dursley, Good Petunia Evans Dursley, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mild Smut, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Non-Canon Relationship, Number Four Privet Drive (Harry Potter), Original Character(s), Squibs, Swearing, Vernon Dursley Being an Asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:41:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23318542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FSantiago379/pseuds/FSantiago379
Summary: Privet Drive had never been a safe haven for Harry, but after the death of Sirius, he just wants to detach himself from the war and have time to heal before going back to Hogwarts for his 6th year. Then, he meets a strange girl with a troubled past that he can't get out of his mind. They become close very quickly and, for the first time, Harry doesn't want to leave Privet Drive.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Original Character(s)
Series: Clash of Worlds [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676932
Comments: 24
Kudos: 52





	1. Pain

Harry had been walking around for so long that his toes were going numb. Three days. That’s how long it took for Harry to get sick of Privet Drive. All he wanted was space. For the first time in his life he’s actually been looking forward to his summer vacation. After everything that happened, some time away from the magical world sounded perfect. There in the quiet streets of Little Whinging, there was no war, no Death Eaters, and no Voldemort. To everyone there, he was just another teenager taking a walk. He didn’t have to be a hero, there wasn’t a quest to save the world. He didn’t have any responsibilities other than the menial chores his Aunt was always making him do. 

Which is precisely why he walked out of the house that day. He’d been complying with her orders so far, trying to stay busy. He cooked their meals, washed their dishes, washed their clothes, picked up after them all the time. At any other time he would’ve hated it, but if he stopped doing something for even a second, all the pain and grief from losing Sirius would take over. So anything that needed doing, he did it. He was one glass slipper away from becoming Cinderella. But that day, his patience was tested.

Aunt Petunia had been pestering him about his room. Yes, it was dirty, no one could deny that. You could barely see the floor beneath the sea of clothes and garbage. His desk was overflowing with open letters, newspapers, crumpled parchment and dirty napkins. It looked like a madman had been living there for years, but no, just a depressed teenager for three days. On that day, he was getting ready to do his daily routine, when his Aunt caught a glimpse of the dumpster he had created and went crazy. After a good ten minutes of yelling, she forbade him to leave his room until it was spotless. 

He didn’t mind at first, it was obvious the room needed cleaning and he assumed it would take him the whole day to do it, that’s one whole day without having to interact with the Dursleys. But the more he cleaned, the more stuff he found that he didn’t want to find. He got distracted by everything. A few hours had passed and all he’d done was move the mess from one side of the room to the other. It was like the more he cleaned, more stuff appeared. Eventually, he gave up. He was tired and hungry. If he found another newspaper with news from the war, he would lose it.

So he went downstairs with the intention of getting a snack and rest for a bit before continuing his task. But his aunt didn’t like seeing him out of his room.

“Is your room clean?” she asked with her hands on her hips.

“I’ll get to it in a minute.” He walked past her to the cabinet and took a granola bar.

She smacked the snack out of his hand. “I thought I told you you weren’t allowed to come out until it was clean.”

“I’m starving. Just let me take a break.”

“This is what you always do. You start with a break and then you end up not doing anything at all. We’ve been generous enough to give you a room and feed you and you repay us by being lazy and ungrateful.”

“Lazy?” That word made him very angry. “I’ve been slaving over all of you all my life while your precious son never lifts a finger. I’ve always taken care of every single chore. The only chore Dudley has ever done is wipe his own ass and you’d do it for him too if he let you.” 

Not two seconds later, Aunt Petunia slapped him right across the face. Rage built up inside him. His life had never been fair. Deep down he felt like he deserved it, but he was tired of everything. Without saying another word, he walked out of the house and slammed the front door behind him. He could hear his aunt’s screams behind him but he only walked faster. He didn’t know exactly how long he’d been walking, but he started regretting it very soon. 

Walking wasn’t enough of a task to keep his mind distracted. Sirius’s death, the war, Voldemort, quickly flooded his mind. It tightened his chest and made it hard to breathe. His hunger was gone, now replaced by nausea. His anger subsided, followed by extreme guilt. Sirius was dead because of him. The only thing close to a family that he had, was gone because of his recklessness. And now he was here, away from everyone he cared about, wanting to ignore his destiny. Now he felt stuck, trapped. He wanted to leave. He needed to find Voldemort and kill him so he could have a chance to have a normal life. But he couldn’t

Suddenly he couldn’t breathe, he felt lightheaded. He sat down on the sidewalk and put his head between his knees while he tried to catch his breath. It helped with the dizziness, but not with the dread. Tears started to fall into the concrete below him. 

He felt something warm brush against his leg and heard someone talking in front of him. “Are you alright?”

Harry looked up.

“Mrs. Figg.” He hadn’t realized he was across the street from her house. 

She didn’t say anything, waiting for him to answer her.

“I’m… I’m fine, just stressed.” That was the biggest understatement he’d ever said.

“Do you want to come in?”

He thought for a second but stood up and dried his eyes with the back of his hand. They walked inside and Mrs. Figg had him sit in the dining room while she went to fix him a plate. She sat in front of him as he ate, petting the cat that was on her lap.

“I heard about Sirius.”

He looked down, his eyes started to tear up again. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Is your family giving you a hard time?”

“They’re not my family.”

“I see.” They sat in silence for a moment. “You know, whenever you need a break from them, you’re always welcome here.”

He nodded. “Thank you.” He was done with his plate. “I should really go back. The longer I take, the worse it’ll be when I get there.”

“I understand.”

She stood up to take his plate and patted him on the head.

“It will all be over soon. Don’t let the muggles get you down.”

He chuckled lightly and headed out. He could already feel the anxiety creeping back up to him as he anticipated his aunt’s rampage. As he’s walking out the door, a car parks in front of the house. A girl walked out. She was around his age, had blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail. She looked at him with bright blue eyes and smiled. He could feel his cheeks burning as he tried to smile back but the moment was ruined when he tripped on his own feet. If it weren’t for the mailbox, he would’ve fallen face first. He didn’t have the courage to look back at the girl after that, he could’ve sworn he heard her giggling. So he just stood up and kept walking.

The walk back home went by quicker than he expected. He wanted to get away as fast as possible before he embarrased himself again. When he got to the Dursley household, there were very large trash bags beside the dumpster outside. That could only mean one thing.

Just as he suspected, when he got to his room, it was spotless. There was nothing on the floor except furniture. His desk had been cleared and his bed was made. He almost felt relieved, but he knew what really happened.

He walked back outside and opened one of the trash bags. Just as he suspected, they were full of his stuff. His clothes, his books, letters, everything that was littering the room was in those bags. Annoyed as he was, he decided not to make a fuss about it. He picked up the bags and headed back inside. Aunt Petunia saw him and gave him a smug expression.

“I hope you’ve learned a lesson today.”

He looked at her straight in the eye. “Yes I did, aunt Petunia. Thank you so much for helping me clean my room. I really appreciate it.”

Her smile vanished, she squinted at him before turning her face away. Satisfied with his comeback, he went up to his room and started sorting out his stuff. Part of him wanted to just throw it all on the floor again, or just leave it in the trash bags until it was time to pack again and leave. But he fought through it and started organizing it.

As he folded his clothes, he couldn’t stop thinking about that girl. He’d never seen her before, as far as he knew, Mrs Figg lived alone. Well, along with her cats. He assumed she moved there while he was away. But who was she? Was she a relative? Mrs. Figg didn’t have any kids. Maybe she’s a distant niece or something. But Mrs. Figg was a squib. If the girl is related to her, was she a witch or not? Was she in the Order too? Had she been assigned to guard him like Mrs. Figg?

He had so many questions. All he wanted was to go back there and ask them. But he didn’t want to feel creepy or embarrass himself again. Although, Mrs. Figg knew him, and as far as he could tell, she was fond of him. He didn’t think she would mind if he visited her again.


	2. Work

Days passed, and he had to admit, he was feeling better. He went from thinking about Sirius at every waking moment to only thinking about him once or twice a day. Sometimes he felt guilty about feeling better, like he didn’t deserve to be happy after he caused his godfather to die, but he tried his best to keep that guilt buried. He did his daily chores, his aunt and uncle were somewhat tolerating him, which was a best case scenario for him. More so, because he’d been so diligent with the housework and there was not much more to be done, they allowed him to do chores for the neighbors as well. More specifically, Mrs. Figg.

“She’s old. She could use some help around the house.” 

They agreed. Maybe they really wanted someone to help her out, maybe they just wanted Harry out of the house, maybe they just didn’t want him to relax at any waking moment. Most likely, it was all three. Whatever it was, it meant Harry was now visiting Mrs. Figg on the regular.

Mrs. Figg was very grateful, she did indeed need help around the house. And she understood Harry’s need to be away from the Dursleys, so she put him to work. He didn’t mind, in fact he actually started to enjoy it, but he couldn’t let the Dursleys know that. As far as they knew he was doing back breaking work all day, though sometimes that was true. The only thing he hated doing more than anything was cleaning the litter boxes. There were five of them, and they had to be cleaned every single day. 

He’d been over a few times, but he hadn’t seen the girl again. Maybe she was just visiting that day. Or maybe she had nothing to do with that place and had gotten confused about where she lived. He needed to know, but every time he tried to ask his mouth seemed to fill with lead. 

Then one day, as he was walking towards the house, he saw the girl again. She got into her car, looked at herself in the mirror, and left. He was paralyzed for a moment as she drove off, he was afraid she would look at him again and he would lose his step again, but she went the other way and didn’t see him. But this was good.

When he walked in, he was greeted in the usual way. Mrs. Figg gave him tea and biscuits and tried to make conversation with him, which he usually ignored but now he seemed very interested. After she finished her story about whatever random cat she owned, he finally, in the most casual way he could, asked her about the blonde girl he saw leaving her house.

“Oh, that’s just a muggle girl who’s renting one of the rooms upstairs.”

And that was it. Great. Just when Harry actually wanted Mrs. Figg to elaborate, she’s as vague as she can be. He would have to get the information he wanted the hard way, by actually talking to the girl.


	3. Want

Other neighbors heard about Harry’s helpful hand and started asking him for help too. Soon enough, Harry had a summer job. He got up every morning and got to work right away. The neighbors would give him meals, snacks, and money. After just one week, he had almost a hundred pounds in his pocket. But, of course, the Dursleys couldn’t know about that part. 

For the first time in his life, he was actually enjoying his time there. He got to meet some of his neighbors that didn’t even know he existed. One of them apparently even thought he’d been in prison. (He had Uncle Vernon to thank for that) Plus, doing something productive gave him a good feeling. He felt useful and accomplished, the complete opposite of how the Dursleys made him feel on a daily basis. 

And still, he hadn’t been able to see the blonde girl again.

She left early. Sometimes when he would go to Mrs. Figgs’s house in the morning she was either leaving or already gone, he hadn’t been able to get there before that, and he wasn’t going to show up at dawn. And then, he wasn’t sure when she got home. The first day that he saw her she got home in the late afternoon, but he quickly noticed how unpredictable that was. She always came home at different hours and he was always doing something when she did. No matter how well he tried to time it, by the time she arrived he was in another house.

And even if he did get it right, what would he even say to her?  _ Hi, I’m Harry, your neighbor. I’ve been working non-stop in every house on this street to memorize your schedule so that I could plan when to approach you. Also, your hair is pretty.  _ That sounded terrible and would most likely make her call the police. But he had to admit it, he was smitten. 

Then there was the other issue. She was a muggle. If they were talking and she asked him about school he’d have to make something up. And that would mean that even the slim chance of a relationship would start with lies. And even if that did happen, eventually he would have to tell her the truth.

_ You’re getting ahead of yourself. _ True. But it was hard not to. Life had taught him to always look far ahead.  _ This isn’t a life or death situation. _ Maybe not, but if there truly was a small chance of them being together he didn’t want to ruin it by creeping her out. Or maybe she had a boyfriend already and he was doing all of this for nothing.  _ Well, you won’t know unless you talk to her. _ Right.


	4. Hurt

“...and I don’t want to hear any more complaining! Everything has to be perfect.”

Dudley’s birthday was approaching, and instead of his usual giant pile of presents, he had asked for just one thing: a party. So of course, they wanted to go all out. This called for reparations and pretty much an entire remodeling of the house. Aunt Petunia went over the to-do list during breakfast as she did every day.

“The house needs a new coat of paint.”

“Yes, Aunt Petunia.”

“After that you’re going to mow the lawn and trim the bushes in both the front and back yard.”

“Yes, Aunt Petunia.”

“And there’s a part of the fence that needs fixing too.”

“I wonder how it broke.”

Dudley broke it.

“What have I told you about your tone?”

“To watch it.”

“That’s right. Now I want this all done before the weekend.”

“You know the party isn’t until the next weekend, right?”

“I know when the party is, but I want everything to be ready on time. Now get to work.”

Harry sighed. “Yes, Aunt Petunia.”

He did the yard first. It wasn’t sunny enough for painting anyway. He did the lawn and the bushes first and then got to fix the fence. As he worked, Dudley was on the other side of the street with his gang. He hadn’t been paying much attention to them but the sound of their laughter annoyed him. He thought he’d be used to doing all the hard work while Dudley did whatever he wanted but it still irritated him. Especially because the reason he was doing most of this was him and his stupid entitlement. 

“What about that girl in town? Is she coming to your party?”

That caught Harry’s attention.

“Damn right she’s coming, if you know what I mean.”

The comment made Harry gag while Dudley’s friends were all cackling like idiots.

“I hear Mike has his eyes on her. You might have some competition there, Big-D.”

“You really think Mike has a chance? Girls like her don’t want guys like him, they want real men.”

Harry almost said something then but he was too far away for them to hear it anyway. He had pretty much given up on her already. He’d been stuck in the house for the last few days. By the time he’d be able to go out again, it’ll probably be time for him to leave and not come back until next summer. Which by then she would probably be married already. But hearing stupid Dudley and his stupid friends talk about her like that made him very angry. He knew for a fact that Dudley was just bluffing. Harry had been actively trying to talk to her for weeks and he hadn’t been able too, and there was Dudley making it seem like she was crazy about him.

Harry was done with the fence. It was early afternoon but it was still cloudy so painting would have to be done some other day. He was finishing raking the mowed grass when one of Dudley’s friends decided to throw a can into the lawn. 

“Oops, looks like you missed a spot.”

They all started laughing hysterically, all except for Dudley who let out more of an awkward cackle. He had been way less aggressive with Harry ever since the incident with the dementors last summer, but he couldn’t let his buddies know that.

Harry picked up the can. “Do you mind?” He tossed it back to them.

The guy seemed to take it as a challenge and kicked the can back into the lawn.

“Are you seriously doing this right now?”

The guy replied mockingly. _“Are you seriously doing this right now?”_

Harry flattened the can with his foot, grabbed it and threw it back. He turned to pick up the trash bags full of grass and when he stood up, the same can hit him in the face. 

He groaned in pain and dropped the bags, he could feel the warmth of blood trickling down the side of his face. Anger built up inside him, and the laughter only made it worse. Before he knew it, he walked over to the guy and pushed him.

“What is your fucking problem?!”

The other guys tried to grab him but he shook them off.

“Whoa, man. Just take it easy,” said one guy while laughing.

“Yeah, we’re just messing around.”

“Why don’t you mess around somewhere else and leave me the fuck alone?!”

They kept laughing at him. Dudley did nothing, he just stood there and watched.

“Come on, guys. Let the boy throw his tantrum.”

They walked away, leaving Harry fuming. He turned around and finished what he was doing. Dudley just stood there for a moment and then he went inside.

“You know,” Harry said to him as he passed him, “after saving your life the least you could do is get your pack of bullies off of me.” He waited for a response but Dudley didn’t give him one, he just kept walking. 

Harry went inside too after everything was thrown away and washed his face in the kitchen sink. Aunt Petunia came by and asked him about the yard.

“It’s done,” he said as he dried his face with a paper towel where he could see small traces of blood. “I’ll start painting as soon as there’s sunlight.”

“Mrs. Figg called earlier. She had to take one of her cats to the vet and needs you to go over there and tend to the other cats.”

“Got it.” He tossed away the paper towel and headed out. 

This was good, any time spent away from the Dursleys was a good time. He didn’t want to see his cousin’s face for the rest of the day. Or the rest of his life. That useless pile of fat and bones wouldn’t defend him against his friends even after what happened last summer. _I should have let the dementors kiss him._ That was a horrible thing to think, but that’s how angry he was. He was so angry that he didn’t notice, until he was almost in front of Mrs. Figg’s house, the car that was parked in front of the house.

He got nervous immediately, he felt as if his stomach was slowly taking the form of a spiral. She was there, alone, and he had a valid reason to go inside. He wasn’t ready for that, he’d given up on the idea. But now it was happening and he didn’t know what to do.

 _Just go in and do what you came here to do._ He took a deep breath and kept walking. 

She was getting some things out of the trunk of her car. Groceries, he saw. She was trying to carry too many bags at the same time, and considering she was kind of small, the bags were overpowering her. 

“Do you need some help with that?” He almost choked trying to get the words out.

She looked at him with her bright blue eyes and smiled. “I…” She almost dropped a bag but Harry was quick to catch it. “Yes, definitely.”

He grabbed most of the bags, leaving her with only two, and followed her inside.

She looked back at him and smirked. “Careful you don’t trip.”

_Great, she remembers._

Once inside, the cats started fussing all over them. Harry almost stepped on them on his way to put the bags on the kitchen table. She put her bags down too and started putting the stuff away around the kitchen.

“Thanks for that,” she said.

“No problem.” He took the groceries out of the bags and put them down on the counter to make it easier for her. “You looked like you might topple over.”

She shrugged. “I’m a one trip kind of person.”

“A trip to the floor, maybe.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Again, seriously?”

She giggled. “Want some lemonade?” she asked as she took the gallon out of the bag. “It’s fresh from the store.”

“Sure.”

She took two cups from the cabinet and filled them with ice.

“I’m Harry, by the way.”

“Oh, I know.” That he didn’t expect. He was used to that but not coming from a muggle. “Arabella told me about you.”

“Really, what did she say?”

“That you come here all the time because you have no friends and nothing better to do.”

He went blank. “What?”

“I’m messing with you,” she said as she handed him his lemonade. 

“Is this your way of making friends or are you just plain mean?”

“Oh, you’ll know when I’m being mean.”

“I can’t wait.”

He could see her playful smirk behind her cup which made him blush so he looked away.

“So why are you here?” she asked, then she pulled a green apple from one of the bags and took a bite out of it.

“Mrs. Figg asked me to tend to her cats while she’s away. I suppose that means feeding them and cleaning the litter boxes.”

“Oh, please do, the smell has been driving me crazy.”

“Alright.” He finished his lemonade and put the cup down. “I’ll get to it then.”

And so he went to work. He wasn’t sure what to make of that conversation. She was making fun of him but she didn’t seem annoyed or anything, maybe it’s more like a playful banter. Or maybe she was just making fun of him. _I mean, you’re a teenager on summer vacation cleaning litter boxes for an old lady. It’s not that hard to make fun of you._ But he was getting tired of being made fun of all the time, that's how it had been his entire life. Also that last comment seemed pretty snobbish. 

The cats were fed, the litter boxes were clean. He was putting everything away when she came down in what he guessed was her work uniform. She had a polo shirt with a logo on it and her hair was up in a ponytail. She looked at him.

“You’re bleeding,” she said.

He had forgotten about the cut on his eyebrow. It must have opened up when he wiped away his sweat with his sleeve. 

“I’ll do something about it when I get home.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled out one of the dining room chairs. “Sit,” she ordered.

He was confused as she left the room but then she came back with a first aid kit.

“I said sit.”

He obliged. She sat in front of him in another chair and opened up the kit.

“Close your eye,” she said as she held a small spray bottle. “This will sting a little.”

He did so and winced when she sprayed him. He opened his eyes and saw that she was taking out a cotton pad.

“I’m sorry that I was kinda mean earlier,” she said as she dabbed the cotton pad on his cut. “I get nervous around new people and everything I say just seems to come out that way. But I don’t want to hurt your feelings or anything, I’m just messing around.”

He stared at her, sort of expecting her to say she was joking again but she seemed to be serious.

“It’s fine. It takes a lot more than that to hurt my feelings, believe me.”

She smiled at him. 

“Did one of the cats do this?” 

“No, a kid threw a can at my face.”

“Damn,” she chuckled. “Did that hurt your feelings?”

“A little.”

“We should go throw cans at his face, see if he likes it,” she said as she put a band-aid over his cut.

He wasn’t sure if it was how close their faces were or the fact that she said “we” implying they could do something together, but Harry could feel his cheeks burning. _Why?_ All he could do is hope she wouldn’t notice.

“There you go.” She sat back and looked at him. “You look like a lobster.”

Okay, so she noticed. Now what?

“Well, that ponytail makes your ears look like a corgi’s.”

Her eyes went wide open for a second. She looked at him with an annoyed expression but also trying not to laugh. He smiled triumphantly.

She stood up and picked up the kit. “I hate you,” she said in a playful tone and she went to put the kit away. She came back with her purse and grabbed her keys from the counter. “I have to go, are you done with the cat shit?”

“Yes, actually. I should head out too.” 

They walked out and she locked the door behind them. 

“It was nice meeting you, lobster,” she said as she walked past him to her car.

“Come on. I didn’t hurt your feelings, did I?”

She looked back at him. “Joke’s on you, I don’t have any feelings.”

“Do you have a name?”

She gave him another one of her playful smirks. “Lyra Green.”

She got in the car and left, leaving Harry with butterflies in his stomach. But the butterflies suddenly went away when he realized he was being watched by his cousin from the other side of the street.


	5. Steal

As expected, Dudley started his interrogation the moment Lyra was gone. He had hoped that Dudley wouldn’t make a big deal out of it but, of course, his main goal in life was to ruin every single aspect of Harry’s life. 

“Are you friends with her?”

“We literally just met today.”

“But you were talking like you were friends.”

“It’s called being polite. You should try it sometime.”

“Are you into her?”

Harry stopped. “How is this any of your business?”

“Because I’m into her and I want her to come to my party and now suddenly you’re all friendly with her.” 

“If you want her to come to your party then invite her.”

“You think I haven’t tried? I’ve even been to where she works and she still won’t talk to me.”

“And how is that my problem?”

“Why don’t you invite her?”

“Because it’s not my fucking party. I’ve had to deal with all the housework, I’ve had to deal with your shitty friends and now you want me to handle your guest list too? Fuck you.” He kept walking.

“What? Are you afraid I might steal her from you?”

Harry laughed. “Steal her? Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not. You’re scared that she might like me more than you so you don’t want her to get to know me.”

“Okay, first of all, she’s a person, not a toy. You can’t steal her. Second, a rabid hairless rat is more likable than you are.” 

Dudley might have said something else but Harry didn’t hear him. He was tired of the Dursleys. It was impossible for him to be at peace even for five seconds without one of them ruining it. Now, he finally had a potential reason to like being there and Dudley had to be… well, Dudley. Always wanting everything for himself. That’s how it had been since he got there when he was a baby. Dudley always got what he wanted and Harry got everything Dudley didn’t want. And, most times, as soon as Harry got something, he wanted it again.

What made Harry feel worse is that the excitement from the time he spent with Lyra was gone. He’d been trying to get to talk to her for weeks. In that, Dudley was right, she was elusive. That only made this afternoon even more amazing. He had felt amazing, and now he didn’t.

When he got to the house, he went directly to his room and locked the door behind him. Then he immediately realized that had been a mistake. Thinking about how much he hated being there made him think about the one chance he got to move out of there for good with Sirius, a chance that was now gone. He tried not to think about it but it was no use. He got in bed, buried his face in his pillow and started to cry.

The next day was sunny, which helped his mood, but it also meant that it was time to paint the house. He knew he wasn’t able to do it all in one day, but he was thankful that the house wasn’t that big.

Mrs. Figgs had called to thank Harry for cleaning the litter boxes and gave them the news that her cat had just eaten a piece of plastic and was going to be fine once he passed it. He wanted to ask her about Lyra, how she was and what she was doing, but decided against it since those aren’t questions you should ask to a third party. He also wanted to ask if she was there or if she was working all day but ultimately scratched off every Lyra related question.

Dudley brought up the party again, this time to his mother, and said that Harry didn’t want to invite Lyra because he was jealous. Aunt Petunia went on about how Harry didn’t get to decide who came to Dudley’s party and that she should be invited. After about twenty minutes of lecture, Harry finally said,

“Fine, I’ll invite her but I can’t guarantee that she’ll come.”

That seemed to satisfy Aunt Petunia, but not Dudley. He didn’t push the subject any further though, but Harry knew that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. What worried him a little is what measures would Dudley take to make sure she came to the party.

And he found out pretty soon.

The sun was going down so Harry went inside to shower. He went to his room, and as he was getting dressed, he noticed something was missing. All the money he had earned over the summer for working around the neighborhood, which he kept in a roll inside a sock in his underwear drawer, was gone. He didn’t have to think very hard to figure out who took it. 

He got dressed and was going to walk out of his room, but Dudley met him at his door.

“Looking for this?” he asked while showing him the roll in his hand.

“Give that back,” Harry warned.

“Or what? Are you going to fight me?”

Harry took a step towards him, but Dudley pushed him away effortlessly.

“That’s my money!”

“You can have it back, if you do what I want.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “You stole my money so that you could blackmail me into inviting Lyra to your stupid birthday party?”

“Not just invite her, you’re going to make sure she comes.”

“What if she doesn’t want to? What if she has plans?”

“I don’t care what you have to do. If she doesn’t come, you don’t get your money.”

“If you don’t give me my money I’ll make sure you don’t have another birthday.”

“Threaten me all you want, but the deal stands.”

With that, Dudley turned on his heel and went to his bedroom, locking the door behind him. Harry slammed his door and started pacing around mumbling curses. 

It wasn’t about the money, not really. Harry had plenty of money. It was about respect, something he never had and never expected to have from any of the Dursleys. He was never allowed to have anything that was his, not toys, not clothes, and now not even money. If his aunt and uncle found out he was hiding money from them he would probably not eat for a week. Meanwhile Dudley could steal money from ten year olds and hoard it all in his room and they wouldn’t give a damn. 

Now he had to choose either to invite Lyra or let Dudley keep his money. It’s not that he didn’t want Lyra at the party, he just didn’t want Dudley to get what he wanted. But if he didn’t, Dudley would keep his money. He won no matter what, which made Harry even angrier.

Over the next couple of days Harry decided to focus on his chores and forget about Dudley. He finished painting the house and took on his regular routine. The long hours in the sun had helped him sleep better. He still had the occasional nightmare but they were becoming less frequent and less intense. Which should’ve helped improve his mood, but at the Dursleys, having a good mood was impossible.

Dudley took every opportunity he had to remind them about their deal. He wanted to just let it slide. He preferred to let him keep the money than have him being a creep over Lyra. That was, until Uncle Vernon gave the news.

“I booked us a hotel room for the weekend so that you can have the house to yourself for your party,” Uncle Vernon said to Dudley during dinner one evening. “Surely you don’t want your mother and me loitering around while you’re trying to have fun.”

Needless to say, Dudley was ecstatic.

“What about me?” Harry asked.

“Someone has to clean up after,” Uncle Vernon answered.

_ Great.  _

Aside from that, not having them at the party meant there was no one to boss him around. And with no one to boss him around, he could actually be at the party instead of acting like a server, which is what he assumed his role was going to be. And Dudley couldn’t boss him around even if he tried. If Lyra came to the party, he could actually spend time with her, if he could keep Dudley away from her.

The next day, he had finished all of his chores early so he went to look for work around the neighborhood. More specifically, on the street where Mrs. Figg lived. Luck seemed to be on his side that day, Mrs. Figg’s next door neighbor asked him to wash both their cars. When he was halfway done with the second one, Lyra got home. 

“Hey,” she called as she got out of her car.

He waved at her and kept doing his thing. He didn’t want to seem too obvious but his stomach dropped to his knees when he saw her approaching.

“So you’re washing cars now?” she asked.

“No, I’m actually training to be a professional dancer. Don’t you see?”

“I didn’t know lobsters could dance,” she said as she crossed her arms.

“I didn’t know corgis could drive.”

She blushed. “Shut up, corgis are super cute.”

_ So are you. _ “They’re also super short.”

“Are you saying I’m short.”

“I’m not  _ not _ saying that you’re short.”

“You’re not tall enough to go around calling people short.” 

“You should look at yourself in the mirror before you call people lobster.”

She blushed even more, even her ears turned pink. She scrunched up her mouth trying her best to look angry but he could tell she was trying not to laugh. As a petty act of revenge, she kicked the bucket of soapy water just as he was about to dip the sponge in and spilled it.

He looked at her with disbelief. “Are you a child?”

“You’re the child.”

“Really?”

“Yes really.”

He picked up the water hose and pointed the nozzle at her. Her eyes went wide open.

“Don’t you dare,” she warned.

He pushed the trigger and sprayed water close to her feet causing her to scream.

“Stop, you dick!” 

He sprayed her again, she kept screaming and laughing while hopping around trying to avoid the stream. She ran for the door and gave him the middle finger before going inside. He laughed to himself for a bit as he picked up the bucket and filled it back up. 

She came out fifteen minutes later wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair, instead of being tied into the usual tight ponytail was held in a messy bun. She brought him a glass of water.

“Thank you,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

He drank about half of it and gave the glass back to her.

“So are you almost done?” she asked.

“Yes. I just have to finish drying…”

While keeping eye contact, she spilled the rest of the water into the side of the car.

Harry glared at her. “Why are you like this?”

She shrugged and walked away. He pretended to be annoyed but really he was having a lot of fun with her. She sat on the hood of her car and watched him as he continued to dry the car. 

He turned to her. “What are you doing?”

“Supervising,” she answered while eating green candy.

“I don’t need a supervisor,” he chuckled.

“Sure you do. Someone has to be there to patch you up when you fall on your face.”

_ I want to fall on your face.  _ “Wow, that’s so thoughtful. You must really care about me.”

She blushed. “Don’t push your luck.”

He chuckled. The car was finally dry. He noticed her looking at his hands as he was wringing the cloth.

“Are you doing something this Saturday?”

She looked up and shrugged. “Why?”

“There’s gonna be a party at my house, I thought you might want to come.”

“A party?” She didn’t seem to like the idea.

“Yes. It’s my cousin’s birthday and he  _ really  _ wants you there.”

The smirk was back. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, he’s crazy about you.”

“Is he cuter than you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what your standards are but he looks like a sack of shit to me.”

She laughed and offered him candy. “You don’t like him?”

“I hate him,” he took it. “And his friends too.” He put the candy in his mouth and had to make a huge effort not to spit it out. “Damn, that’s sour!”

She giggled. “You don’t like sour?” she asked before eating three at a time.

“Not like that.”

“It’s something you get used to.”

“Well, I’ll pass,” he said while massaging his cheeks. “So will you come to the party?”

“The party for your cousin that you hate full of his friends that you also hate?”

“Pretty much.”

“Will you be there?”

“Well, I live there so, yes.”

She smirked. “I wouldn’t miss it.”


	6. Blue

The day of the party Aunt Petunia woke up in a rampage. She had not left the kitchen since and was shouting orders at Harry who was setting up the place. All the furniture was pushed to the walls, decorations were set in place. All the picture frames, all the knick knacks, everything that wasn’t furniture had to be put away. She kept saying it was to “get them out of the way” or to “not embarrass my Duddy-kins in front of his friends” but Harry knew she just didn’t want them to get destroyed. Meanwhile Duddy-kins was in his room playing video games.

“I don’t know how you can trust him,” Harry said to her while he went to get a drink of water. “You’ve seen how careless he is with his stuff, and yet you trust him with the entire house?”

“Don’t question your Uncle’s decisions, boy,” she answered as she finished embellishing the cake. “He wants…” She cleared her throat. “We both want Dudley to have the best time that he can.”

That answered everything. It wasn’t her decision, she was just going along with whatever her husband said, like she always has. But he could tell she was stressed out of her mind. As a dedicated housewife, her home was her sanctuary. And it was now in the hands of an entitled teenager with anger issues. 

“That’s why I insisted on keeping you here,” she added.

That took him by surprise. “What do you mean?”

She sighed. “Vernon wanted you to come with us and leave the house to Dudley alone. But I want you here just in case things get too out of control.”

He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand it was nice of her to admit that she trusts him and sees him as a responsible person. On the other, he knew that any major damage to the house would fall on his shoulders. 

“I’ll try my best,” he replied.

Vernon and Petunia left at noon. She had left everything ready, all there was to do was set up the food. They wished Dudley a happy birthday and asked him to behave and be careful, two things that he would surely ignore.

After they were gone, Dudley went up to his room and Harry went after him.

“Where is it?”

“Where’s what?”

“Don’t play dumb. My money, where is it?”

“The deal is that you get the blonde girl to come and then I’ll give you your money.”

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve already said her name several times, why do you still call her “the blonde girl”?”

“Fine, if Rita shows up you can have your money.”

“It’s  _ Lyra _ .”

“Whatever. You have to introduce me to her if you want it.”

“You didn’t say anything about introducing you.”

“Well, I’m saying it now.”

Harry groaned. “Okay, fine. Now show me the money, I want to make sure you haven’t spent it.”

Dudley groaned and stood up from his bed, he reached under his mattress and pulled out the roll, still intact.

“Good, I expect you to keep your word,” Harry told him before leaving the room. He caught a glimpse of Dudley putting the money back under his mattress. He didn’t think he would be dumb enough to leave it there after he saw where it was but anything could be expected of Dudley. 

Guests started to arrive at six. Everything was set up and running smoothly. It occurred to Harry that he never asked how many guests they were expecting, and he regretted it very soon. A few hours later, the house was packed. The living room was flooded with people dancing. The snacks Aunt Petunia had set up were almost gone. The only thing that was still intact was the punch bowl, which made Harry very confused since almost everyone had a cup in their hands. He later realized that Dudley’s friends had brought their own punch which they had in a dispenser outside. 

Harry was very stressed out. There had never been that many people in that house at the same time and soon enough they were going to be drunk. He was starting to wish his aunt and uncle had taken him with them. 

That was, until Lyra showed up.

Everything seemed to slow down when she walked in. Her hair was pinned on one side and fell down her shoulder in waves. She was wearing a bright blue dress that really brought out her eyes. Her eyes looked amazing with elongated lashes and her lips were the color of wine. 

She walked up to him but didn’t say anything. She stood in front of him for a second and placed one finger under his chin, pushing up his jaw. He cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

“You made it,” he said.

She grinned. “I told you I was coming.”

“You did.” He scratched the back of his neck, not knowing what to say next. He was absolutely stunned. She raised her eyebrows at him.  _ Compliment her.  _ “You look… very nice.”

She looked at him with disappointment. “Really? That’s the best compliment you can come up with?”

“Sorry, sorry.” He chuckled nervously. “You look amazing. Stunning.”

She smiled. “Much better.”

“You’re also taller,” he noticed. She was almost as tall as him.

“Thanks to these,” she said as she turned to the side and showed off her pink high heels.

“Nice.”

“So where’s this cousin of yours? I hope he has way better compliments.”

Harry scoffed. “Keep hoping. Come on.” 

He led her through the house out to the backyard where Dudley was with his gang. As soon as they saw her they started whistling and cat calling her which almost made Harry gag. Dudley stepped forward.

Harry took a deep breath. “Dudley,” he said in the flattest tone he could, “This is Lyra Green, she lives on Wisteria Walk. Lyra,” he turned to her, “This is my cousin Dudley.” He spoke like he was giving someone a death sentence.

“The birthday boy,” she said in an overly formal tone. She extended her hand and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, Dudley.”

“Oh, please,” he took her hand, “the pleasure is all mine.” He did a little bow and kissed her hand. 

Harry had to look away or he would’ve vomited right there. 

“Come join us.” Dudley led Lyra by the hand towards his little group and pulled up a chair for her. “Hey, Potter. Get the lady something to drink, would you?”

Harry glared at Dudley. “And what would the lady want?” he asked looking at Lyra.

She sat gracefully on the chair Dudley pulled and turned to Harry. “I would like a glass of your finest wine with chilled raspberries on the bottom,” she said in the same tone while gesturing with her hand.

Harry snorted a laugh. “The best I can do is store-bought punch with skittles.”

“That sounds gross,” she replied in her normal voice. “Just punch is fine.”

He did a little bow which made her giggle and made Dudley look at him like he wanted to kill him. He went back inside to the kitchen and saw that the punch bowl was surrounded by liquor bottles. This didn’t surprise him. He got Lyra some of the leftover puch from the refrigerator and headed back out.

Dudley was telling Lyra some random story that he probably made up and she seemed very interested in it. Harry tapped her on her shoulder. “Your drink, madam.”

She smiled at him. “Why, thank you, darling,” she said in the same tone as before.

“Yes, thank you,” Dudley told him firmly while gesturing with his head for him to leave. Harry was about to answer to that, when some of Dudley’s friends called him over. “Excuse me, I’ll be back soon,” he said to Lyra before going away.

“Wow,” Harry said once he was gone. “I think this is the first time I’ve heard him say that.”

“But he seems like such a gentleman.”

“Why are you talking like that?” he asked, laughing.

She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She stifled her laughing to take a sip of punch. “I told you I get nervous around new people.”

“Nervous? You seemed to be enjoying that conversation.” He leaned against the fence so he was facing her.

“That was not a conversation. It was a two minute monologue.”

“Still, it looked like you were very interested.”

She smirked “Are you jealous, Potter?”

“No.” He blushed. “I’m just wondering why you’re acting like a lady from high society with him and what I got was a straight-up bully.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that what you think of me?”

He shrugged. 

Dudley was back before he could say anything else. “Sorry about that, sweetheart. Now, where was I?”

Lyra turned to Dudley and her face went from a glare to a smile in a fraction of a second. She scoffed. “Sweetheart? That’s not my name, you silly boy,” she said in the same overly formal tone. She looked back at him. “Harry, did you forget to tell your dear cousin my name?”

Harry stared at her for a few seconds trying to figure out how to respond to that. She raised her eyebrows at him, expectantly, and he smirked.

“I thought I did, but it seems I did forget,” he answered.

She tut-tutted. “And now your negligence has caused this poor boy to embarrass himself,” she said in a grim tone while gesturing at Dudley with her hand. “And on his birthday! How can you be so careless?” She slammed her fist into the arm of the chair.

Harry couldn’t help laughing at her fake outrage. Dudley looked like he didn’t know what to do. He was both embarrassed and weirded out. It made Harry a little happy that he wasn’t the only one that Lyra had that effect on. “I am so sorry, really. I cannot believe I overlooked something so important.”

Dudley was glaring at him. “Forget it,” he said before he turned around and went back to his friends.

Lyra and Harry burst out laughing. 

“You’re so mean,” he stated.

She chuckled and drank her punch. “I just hate it when guys call me sweetheart.”

“But you don’t mind being called mean?”

She looked at him with that wicked smirk of hers that sent electric currents down his spine. She was going to say something but was interrupted by the noise of Dudley’s buddies hollering for some reason. 

A crowd was beginning to form in the backyard and Lyra looked uncomfortable.

“Wanna go inside?” he asked her.

She stood up immediately. “Please.”

About two hours into the party everyone was absolutely wasted. There were at least thirty people in the living room dancing. There were kids smoking in the backyard. The bathroom had a line because there was someone inside throwing up. Harry, being the only responsible person in the house, was trying to keep everything under control, and failing.

He and Lyra were having a nice conversation when chaos broke out. Two of Dudley’s friends had gotten into a fight and Harry had to break them up. Thankfully, they were both drunk so it wasn’t too hard. One of them just plopped down into the floor and couldn’t stand up and the other started laughing uncontrollably. 

After dealing with all the problems that emerged, he went to look for Lyra but found her talking to Dudley again. Or rather, Dudley was talking to her. Just as he was walking to them, he heard something break, something big. When he went back in, the punchbowl was now in pieces scattered all over the living room floor. Everyone seemed to have found that hilarious. Harry got a broom as fast as he could and swept the pieces away before someone got hurt. The last thing he needed was someone bleeding. 

He felt a tap on his arm and turned around to see Lyra standing there with a worried expression.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Never better,” he answered as he poured the broken shards into the trash can.

She glanced at the crowd. “You better hope the neighbors don’t call the cops on you.”

“Oh, I’m hoping they will.” He put the broom away. “This is a mess.”

She shrugged. “I’ve seen worse.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “I was at a party where everyone was either drawing all over the walls with permanent markers or putting eggs in the microwave and betting on how long it took for it to pop.”

He stared at her. “Are you serious?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “No. I’m kidding.”

“Oh.”

She chuckled and nudged his arm. “Let’s go sit somewhere, my feet are killing me.”

They found shelter on the stairs. Aunt Petunia had put a toddler fence at the top of the stairs so no one could go up to the bedrooms. They went halfway up and sat on the steps facing each other, him sitting a few steps below her.

“So,” he said, “did Dudley remember your name this time?”

She giggled. “He did actually.”

“What were you talking about?” He tried to make it sound as casual as he possibly could but it still sounded like he was jealous.

She lifted her eyebrow once. “Well,  _ he  _ talked about school and his wrestling team and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t pay attention to.”

“Well that’s rude.”

“It’s not my fault that he’s boring as shit. He never asked me a single question, all he did was talk about himself. No, wait, he did ask me something. It was:  _ What’s the deal with you and Potter? _ ”

He laughed. “That’s Dudley for you.”

She tilted her head. “What’s going on between the two of you? You seem to really hate each other.”

He sighed. “Well, long story short: I was raised by my aunt and uncle, his parents, who treat him like he shits gold. So he grew up actually believing that and because of that he treats everyone else like garbage. Me, specifically.”

She frowned. “That sounds awful.”

“It is,” he agreed. “I’ve been his personal punching bag all my life.”

“Was he the one who threw a can at you that day?”

“No, that was one of his friends.”

“Wow.” She stared at him for a moment. “You’re such a fucking loser.”

Harry glowered at her. “Why do you have to be like that?”

She laughed. “I’m kidding! Come on.” She nudged his leg. “Don’t be mad at me.”

He wasn’t sure whether to be mad at her or not. “I know you’re kidding but words can hurt.”

She put on a really concerned face. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize it was so easy to hurt your feelings.”

“You’re an asshole,” he told her.

She burst out laughing. “Yes! That’s it. You need to learn to fight back.”

“I punched a guy in the face last year,” he said, proudly. “Does that count as fighting back?”

“Why did you punch him?”

“He’s been a pain in my ass since we met but, on that specific day he insulted my mother and my best friend’s mother.”

“He sounds charming.”

“I bet he does. The two of you would get along just fine.”

She laughed. “How hard did you punch him?”

“My hand was bruised up for about a week.”

She nodded in approval. “Very nice.”

“Are you condoning violence?”

“Oh, yes. Definitely. Some people just deserve to be punched in the face.”

“I’ll take that into consideration next time you get on my nerves.”

She cackled. “Are you threatening me, Potter?”

He raised his eyebrows and leaned his head back against the railing. “I’m just letting you know what happens when people make fun of me.”

“Then don’t be so easy to make fun of.”

He scoffed. “Right! Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“See? This is why you need me in your life,” she said. 

They both laughed for a moment.

“What about you?” he asked.

“What about me?”

“You ever punched someone?”

“Not really. But I did get punched once. Well, she punched me twice. Both eyes.”

He grimaced. “Why?”

She sighed. “It was so stupid, honestly.”

“What did you do?”

She rolled her eyes. “She hated me because she thought I was hitting on her boyfriend. And on that day, she comes over to me and starts going on about “he’s my man and he’d never cheat on me” blah blah and at first I ignored her but she kept going and she was starting to really irritate me. So I said to her “if he would never cheat on you then why are you here telling me to stay away from him? It sounds to me like you’re scared” And she goes “I’m not scared that he would cheat on me, I just don’t want sluts like you trying to steal him from me.”

“Yikes,” Harry said.

“Yes, so, I don’t remember the exact words I used next but it went something like “If you don’t want someone to steal your boyfriend you should go shave your mustache instead of being such a condescending twat.””

He snorted a laugh. “Damn.”

“And then she punched me in both eyes,” she stated.

“Did you punch her back?”

“Oh no,” she said quickly. “Do you see my arms?” She extended both arms towards him. “Do you think these limp noodles can punch someone? No!”

“Then what did you do?” he asked while laughing.

She shrugged. “I resorted to other ways.”

“What did you do?” he asked in a more serious tone.

“I got her expelled,” she said in a very casual tone.

He raised his eyebrows. “Expelled? How?”

She smirked. “I was a model student. Straight As, never got into trouble, all the teachers loved me. And suddenly some girl comes up to me, calls me a slut and then punches me in the face.”

Harry shook his head. “All because she thought you were hitting on her boyfriend.”

“Which, to be fair, was true. I was into him. But,” she added just before Harry was about to protest. “I never would’ve gone through with it. I just wanted to see how far he would go. If anything, I was doing her a favor.”

“You call that a favor?”

“I was testing the strength of his commitment to her! But, clearly, she didn’t see it that way,” she said as she swept her hair back.

“How can you be so casual about this? Don’t you feel a little bit bad?”

“Why should I feel bad?”

“Because someone punched you and instead of fighting back you threw a tantrum and got her kicked out of school.”

“Yeah, I call that fighting back. Not every fight has to be physical. And I didn’t throw a tantrum, my dad saw my face and threatened to sue the school and press charges against the girl.”

“So your dad threw the tantrum for you?”

“Pretty much,” she shrugged. “This was back when he still loved me.”

Harry stared at her, taken aback with that last comment. He wasn’t sure how to react. She noticed his expression and chuckled.

“Lighten up,” she told him. “It was just a joke.” 

It was always a joke with her, but something seemed different this time. Her smile looked different, like she was making an effort to keep it.

“Are you sure?” he asked her. 

Her smile wavered but she kept it up. “Are you going to interrogate me all night?”

“You were complaining ten minutes ago that Dudley wasn’t asking you questions, now I’m asking too many?”

“Yes,” she answered. 

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. So let’s just sit here in silence for the rest of the night.”

She laughed. “You’re so dramatic.”

“Well, is it a bad thing that I want to get to know you?”

“You don’t want to get to know me, believe me. You’re going to regret it later.”

“Now who’s the one being dramatic?”

She glared at him. “Okay. You get three questions. Just three.”

He smiled. “Any three?”

“Yes,” she answered. “And that counts as one.”

“What? That’s not fair.”

“That counts as the second one.”

Harry stared at her, annoyed. She just shrugged. “Fine,” he said. “Here’s my question: Why are you here?”

“Because you invited me, you donut.”

“You know what I mean,” he protested. “Why are you living with an old lady and her fifty cats?”

“Where do you think I’m supposed to be living?”

“I don’t know, with your family?”

“Would you live with your family if you had the choice not to?”

“Stop answering my questions with more questions.”

She chuckled. “It’s not really an interesting story. I graduated from school in May, found a job so I looked for a place to live and found Arabella’s ad. Rent was cheap so I took it, I think she needed the company more than the money. And that’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“I told you it wasn’t interesting.”

Something told him there was more to the story. Why was she being so evasive if it was really that simple? That comment about her dad gave him a lot to think about, she had to be hiding something. Then again, he was hiding a lot of stuff too. Maybe it was best to just leave it like that.

“You can ask another one if you want,” she told him.

“I thought you said I was out of questions.”

“Well, I’m feeling generous.”

He chuckled. “Okay. Why…?”

“There you are!” Dudley had suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

He was slurring his words and was struggling to keep his balance. Harry wasn’t even able to tell who he was looking at. “Are you talking to me or her?”

“To her, obviously. Why would I be looking for you?”

“I don’t know, maybe you need help wiping your ass.”

“Don’t talk like that in front of the lady!”

Harry sighed in frustration. “Dudley, you’re drunk, go away.”

“No. You go away.”

He glanced at Lyra who was staring at Dudley like he was a rare zoo animal.

“Go away or I won’t pay you!”

Harry looked at Dudley with wide eyes. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“The deal was I would pay you if you got her to come but I’m not giving you the money if you don’t let me talk to her.”

Harry was fuming. Why did he have to say that stuff in front of her? He glanced at her again and she was now looking at him confused. 

“What is he talking about?” she asked.

“Nothing, he’s drunk and he doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

“Oh, you didn’t tell her that I had to offer you money so you’d invite her?”

“You did not offer me money! You stole my money and blackmailed me with it!”

“So it’s true, then?” Lyra asked.

“What? No! Well, some of it.”

“It is true. This morning he made me show it to him to make sure I didn’t spend it.”

Lyra scoffed and stood up to go down the stairs.

“See? He’s a loser,” Dudley added. “Come hang out with me. I promise you’ll…” Lyra ignored him and passed by him so he grabbed her by the arm. “Hey, I’m talking to you!”

Lyra slapped him across the face, making everyone around them gasp simultaneously. “Don’t you ever come near me again,” she said with a finger pointed at his face. “You are the grossest piece of shit I’ve ever met and I hope you die alone and rot in hell!” She looked at Harry, who was still in shock, and pointed at him. “You too,” she spat before she bolted out of the house, slamming the door behind her.


	7. Drunk

The sound of the door brought Harry out of his shock. He was so angry at Dudley but he was more angry at himself for not telling Lyra about it earlier. It hadn’t even occurred to him that she might not like the fact that Dudley had blackmailed him to get her there, he was so invested in spending time with her that he completely overlooked that.  _ How can you be so careless? _ He felt like a complete idiot.

He went after her immediately, ignoring Dudley’s rant about how women are crazy and shouldn’t be trusted. 

“Lyra!” he called after her as soon as he was outside but she ignored him. She turned when she got to the sidewalk and quickened her pace. Fortunately for Harry, she stopped for a moment to take off her shoes and he caught up with her. “Lyra, let me explain,” he said, reaching for her arm.

She swatted his hand away. “Don’t touch me!”

He held up both hands in front of him. “Okay, I’m sorry. Just, can I talk to you?”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she yelled. “I’ve been talking to you all night and now I find out you invited me because he blackmailed you?”

“It’s not like that!”

“That’s how it sounded.”

“He’s drunk and he’s an asshole! Do you really believe him?”

“You said he was telling the truth!”

“I said some of it was true.”

She groaned in frustration. “I don’t want to deal with half truths. The only truth I see is that you and your cousin bartered me like a party clown!”

“I know it sounds bad but I swear, it isn’t like that. Just let me explain,” he pleaded.

“I don’t want to hear it!” she yelled before turning back around.

Harry saw her walking away and was starting to lose hope. But he just couldn’t let her go back home feeling like he betrayed her. He had to figure out how to get her to listen to him.

He went after her. “After all we talked about, you really think I asked you to come just for money?”

“After two hours of small talk?” she said without stopping. “Wow, you’re right. I mean, we’re basically soulmates now.”

“Look, even after Dudley stole my money, I still wasn’t going to invite you.” That did not come out like he thought it would.

“How is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“What I meant is, I didn’t invite you because of the money. I did it because I wanted you here.”

She stopped walking and turned to him. “You wanted me here but you also didn’t want to invite me? Which is it?”

He knew he only had this chance to explain himself so he chose his next words carefully. “I didn’t want to invite you because this isn’t my party, it’s Dudley’s party, my terrible, gross, dickhead cousin. If it was my birthday party, I wouldn’t think twice about inviting you.”

“Well now you’re being selfish,” she said crossing her arms.

He took a deep breath. “I’m not going to force you to stay. I just don’t want you to go thinking that I only wanted to spend time with you because of the money, because that’s not the case. I don’t care about the money.”

She raised an eyebrow. “So he was lying when he said you asked him to show it to you before the party?”

He groaned. “No, that was true.

“What were you going to do if he didn’t have it?”

“I don’t know! It’s not about the money, I just didn’t want him to win.”

“To win what? To win me?!”

“No! This isn’t about you and it’s not about the money either. It’s about Dudley being so used to always getting what he wants that he would go as far as stealing from me so he can manipulate me. I wasn’t even going to be attending this party, I was planning on locking myself up in my room until it was over, even if it meant Dudley keeping the money.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“To be honest, it was when I found out my aunt and uncle weren’t going to be here. Without them here, I can basically do whatever I want. And what I want is to spend the night with you.”

Her expression softened. He took the risk and took one step closer to her, she didn’t protest but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you before, I realize now that I should have. You have every right to be mad at me.”

She looked at him, her eyes were like two ice spikes, cold and piercing. They made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. 

“How can you be so small and intimidating at the same time?” he asked her.

She shrugged. “It’s a gift.”

He gave her a small smile. “So, do you forgive me?”

She stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. “How much money did he take from you?” she asked.

He frowned. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m curious.”

He hesitated for a moment but there didn’t seem to be anything wrong about telling her. “Almost two hundred pounds.”

Her eyes went wide. “That’s a lot of money.”

“I told you, it was never about the money.”

“So you’re just going to let him keep it?”

“Well, I can’t do anything about it now.”

She squinted her eyes. “Do you know where it is?”

“He pulled it out from under his mattress when he showed it to me, but he probably moved it.”

“We’ll see.” She handed Harry her shoes and walked back towards the house.

He stood there confused for a moment before following her. “What are you doing?”

She didn’t answer. She opened the front door and poked her head in, probably to see if Dudley was around. He seemed to be lost in the crowd so she walked in and sneaked her way up the stairs. 

Harry followed her, nervously. “Lyra!”

“Shh!” She tried to get the toddler fence off but it wouldn’t budge so she jumped over it.

“What are you doing?” he asked again.

“We’re taking back your money. Now tell me which one’s his room.”

Harry looked at her with a strange fascination. He pointed at Dudley’s door. “It’s that one but it’s probably locked.”

She tried the knob and it was indeed locked. “Let me see if I can pick it,” she said as she dug her fingers into her hair. She pulled out a bobby pin and started tinkering the lock with it.

“If Dudley finds us, he’ll kill me,” he told her, half paranoid, half excited.

“Then make sure he doesn’t find us.”

Harry went to stand watch at the top of the stairs while Lyra worked on the lock. “Is it working?” he asked her.

“Not really,” she answered. “This isn’t a regular bedroom lock, I think it only opens with a key.”

“Like most locks do.”

“Don’t sass me, Potter,” she hissed. “Bedroom locks are usually easy to pick.”

Oh, how much he wished he could use his wand right now. “Just leave it, I’ll find another way.”

“Just give me another minute.”

But that minute was over when Harry saw Dudley and one of his buddies coming up the stairs. In a split second decision, he grabbed Lyra’s arm and pulled her into his room, dropping her shoes in the process.

“Hey!” she protested.

“I’m sorry!” he whispered. “Just shh!”

He put his ear to the door to listen as Dudley came up the stairs. He and his friend were talking but he couldn’t distinguish their voices because of the noise of the party. Lyra stood in front of him, also listening. The room was dark but he could still see her thanks to the street light entering through the window. They were only inches apart. 

Dudley left after a few minutes, they heard the door closing and the two troglodytes going down the stairs. They stared at each other, and after a few seconds, they both started laughing.

“What were you thinking?” he asked her.

“I wanted to help you.”

“You really don’t have to.”

She shrugged. “I know, but your cousin’s a dick.”

He sighed. “He really is, but seeing you slap him was more than enough for me.”

She giggled. “I don’t think I can show my face again in this house.”

“He is so drunk, he probably won’t even remember it.”

“Probably,” she agreed, still giggling.

They stood there for a few seconds, Harry was starting to worry that she might be feeling uncomfortable so he backed up a little bit. But then she grabbed his arm. Her grip was gentle but it made his heart skip a beat.

“I’m sorry I freaked out,” she said softly.

He shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“No, I do.” She looked down. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

She let go of his arm. “It’s just that,” she hesitated.

“What?” he asked.

She sighed. “For a moment I thought that you had been pretending to like me just for the money.”

“I wasn’t pretending,” he replied.

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes.

“Honestly, I’m not that good at lying.”

She laughed softly. “Is there anything you are good at?”

“A lot of things,” he protested.

“Like what?” 

They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment and then they both smiled. She ran her hand up his arm and it landed on his chest. Her other hand took his and placed it on her hip, pressing it against her. He wrapped both hands around her waist and pulled her to him, closing the space between them. She exhaled as their bodies pressed together and hooked one arm around his neck. Their foreheads touched, they closed their eyes.

A loud crash came from downstairs, followed by screaming and laughing. Harry cringed. “Please tell me I just imagined that.” He opened his eyes and saw Lyra with a worried expression. He sighed and pulled away from her. “Fuck,” he said as he exited the room.

Downstairs, the music had stopped and everyone was looking in the same direction. Everyone looked worried, stretching their necks trying to see what had happened. Harry and Lyra stood halfway down the stairs where they had a clear view of the commotion.

What used to be the dining room table was now in pieces and Dudley was writhing in pain on top of them. It wasn’t clear what happened but he guessed Dudley had tried to stand on the table or something like that, and it broke under his massive weight.

The people standing closer to Dudley were dying of laughter. Harry would’ve been laughing too if he didn’t know what would happen when his aunt and uncle got home.

“I’m dead.”


	8. Green

Harry turned to the crowd. “Okay! Party’s over! Everyone out!”

Some protested but little by little they started leaving the house. Some of them stayed around waiting to be picked up. Harry walked up to Dudley who had managed to get on his feet with the help of his friends.

“What the hell happened?” Harry asked.

“He wanted to crowd-surf,” explained one of his friends who was on the verge of tears with laughter. They moved Dudley to the couch where he collapsed immediately.

“We told him not to but he just wouldn’t listen,” said another one.

“Sure,” Harry replied, pretending to believe him.

Dudley started snoring which seemed to amuse his friends even more.

“Hey, hey,” one of them said to the others and pulled out a permanent marker from his pocket. The others started snickering and hovered over Dudley while they took turns drawing on his face.

Harry wondered if he should do anything about that but decided he had more important things to worry about, like the wreckage that used to be the dining table. He didn’t know what to do, or if he should do something, he wasn’t the one who broke it after all. But he was the one his aunt had left in charge. Although she knew better than anyone the destructive force that was her son.

Lyra appeared by his side. “Yikes,” she said, looking at the broken table. 

He sighed. “What do I do?”

“There’s nothing you can do,” she chuckled. “Unless you can magically put it back together.”

If only it weren’t illegal for him to do magic outside of school.

“Oh look,” one of Dudley’s friends said, looking at Lyra. “The crazy bitch is back.”

Harry looked back at the guy, furious. He thought she’d feel the same way but instead she smiled at him and waved her fingers.

“Hi,” she said in a sweet tone that confused everyone. 

“Can you guys leave?” Harry asked.

“Don’t tell us what to do,” one of them replied.

Harry turned to them to say something but at the same time, Dudley groaned and vomited all over the floor and himself. His friends all yelled in disgust, some of them were laughing, one of them got barf on his shoe. Lyra shrieked and ran out the front door covering her nose and mouth.

That was when Harry decided it wasn’t his responsibility anymore.

He went after Lyra and found her sitting on the porch steps, breathing heavily. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “I just can’t stand the sight of vomit, or the smell. It makes me sick.”

He chuckled. “You’re such a wimp.”

She glared at him. “Sure, kick me while I’m down, that’s completely fair.”

“Oh but when you do it it's completely fine of course”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I say so.”

“Wow,” he replied. “Well, I can’t argue with that.”

She grinned and extended her hand. “Help me up.”

He took her hand and pulled her up to her feet. She fixed her skirt and looked at him. “Are you going to walk me home?”

“Of course,” he answered quickly. “Do you want to leave right now?”

“Right now? When the party is raging? Are you crazy?” she asked with a shocked expression. “I think we should stay for another two or three hours.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Let’s go.”

“Wait,” she said. “If your cousin is unconscious, we can go up to his room and get your money.”

He thought for a moment. “I could get the key from his pocket,” he realized.

Her eyes lit up with excitement. They went back into the house, went directly upstairs to avoid the smell of Dudley’s throw up. Harry went to him. Dudley’s friends were gone, they left his face full of curse words and obscene drawings.  _ Some friends.  _ Harry called his name and clapped a few times to see if he woke up but he was passed out. He patted his pockets until he found the one with the key. Dudley grunted as he was pulling it out, making him jump, but he didn’t wake up.

Harry almost let out a victory laugh but he managed to stifle it. He ran upstairs where Lyra was waiting for him and showed her the key.

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

He opened the door and turned on the light. 

“Oh, god,” Lyra said, covering her nose. “I never thought I would prefer the smell of vomit over anything.”

“I know,” he replied. “Where do we check first?”

“Where did you say he put it?”

“Under his mattress. But he surely moved it, I mean he knows I saw him putting it there.”

“Let’s just check, you never know.”

Harry walked to the bed and lifted the mattress, Lyra knelt beside him and poked her hand under it.

“There’s a lot of stuff here.” She pulled out something and held it in front of her, it was a magazine. She yelped and dropped it. “Gross!”

“I know,” he said apologetically.

She dug her hand in again.

“If it’s not there let’s look somewhere else,” he told her.

“Hang on.” She pulled out something else and cackled. “Look at this!”

She was holding up a small bag with something greenish brown inside.

Harry’s eyes went wide. “Is that pot?”

“I hope so,” she chuckled. She held onto it and reached in again. After a few more seconds she finally pulled out the roll of bills. “Got it!”

“Yes!” He dropped the mattress back in place. “I can’t believe that dumbass left it there.”

Lyra got to her feet and handed him the money. “Well, only two things are infinite, the universe and people’s stupidity.”

He laughed and stuffed the money in his pocket. “Thanks a lot, really. I owe you.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I already got something out of it.” She made her way out the room.

“You mean the pot?”

She looked at him. “No, I mean the jizz-filled magazine, you idiot.”

“Okay, enough with the name calling.”

She chuckled. “Let’s go.”

She walked out of the room and he followed her, turning off the light and locking the door behind them. 

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll go put the key back, you wait for me outside.”

Harry and Lyra walked side by side, leaving Privet Drive behind. He was feeling victorious after getting his money back, now Dudley had nothing to use against him. And he had a really fun time with Lyra. He glanced at her.

“Are you cold?” he asked her, seeing her arms crossed, her shoes dangling from her hand.

“A little,” she admitted.

“Here.” He took off his jacket and gave it to her.

She chuckled. “Aw, that’s so sweet.” She handed him the shoes and put on his jacket. “Thank you.”

He stared at her.

She realizes. “What?”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

She laughed. “I’m not! I appreciate your chivalry.”

“Still can’t tell,” he replied.

She continued laughing and crossed her arm with his, causing an electric shock down his spine. “I’m sorry. I guess sarcasm has become my default way of talking to people.”

“Why is that?” he asked, feeling his cheeks burning. Why did it take so little for her to get him so flustered?

She sighed. “Well, you know when you get poked in the eye and then when something comes close to your face you automatically flinch?”

He frowned. “Are you saying your sarcasm is a reflex?”

“Something like that.”

He thought about it for a moment. “So what poked you in the eye?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Life.”

“Wow,” he replied. “Can you be more vague?”

“Yes.”

“Come on,” he protested. “You still owe me one question from earlier.”

“You’ve asked me a hundred questions since then.”

“Why do you refuse to tell me anything about yourself?”

“Because,” she answered. “My life is not that interesting.”

“I don’t want you to entertain me. I just want to get to know you.”

She hesitated. “It’s hard for me,” she said quietly. “To open up and trust someone, it’s…” she sighed. “It’s not about you. I know it sounds dumb but…”

“It doesn’t sound dumb,” he told her. “I get it.” Harry couldn’t help but wonder what happened that made her put up that barrier.

She smiled at him and squeezed his arm. “You’re a good guy,” she said. “I still feel bad for yelling at you earlier.”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “I would’ve yelled at me too.”

“You didn’t deserve that.”

“Well, I don’t deserve most of the things that have happened to me but here we are.” That made her chuckle. “And I’m sure you didn’t deserve whatever made you feel so insecure.”

They locked eyes for a moment, she was solemn, he could feel her arm trembling. He hoped he hadn’t crossed a line by saying that.

She let go of his arm and stopped walking. Harry looked at her but she stared at the ground, holding her elbows like she was hugging herself. She took a deep breath and looked at him, her eyes were red. 

“My parents disowned me,” she said quietly. He could tell she was trying very hard not to cry. Her breathing was deep and controlled. “Earlier this year. They cut me off completely.”

Harry was shocked. “Why?” he asked.

She let out a sarcastic chuckle and shrugged. “Because they don’t like me. Because I’m not like them. Because who I am and what I want in life goes against everything they stand for. And instead of, you know, loving me unconditionally like parents should, they sent me a letter. A letter! They couldn’t even bother to tell me in person or at least give me a call. No, they sent me a letter to tell me: “Don’t bother coming home this summer.””

Harry didn’t know what to say. What kind of parents could do something like that? Even the Dursleys who treated him like garbage at least loved their actual son. “That’s horrible,” was all he could say.

She nodded and ran her hands over her hair. At least she seemed less tense. “I try not to think about it, I just want a fresh start and forget about them but it’s… hard.” She took a deep breath, she sounded like she was about to cry. “And since then, I… I’m just scared… That everyone else is going to abandon me too.”

He stared at her. The self-assured, cynic, hard-headed girl he had met was now trembling in front of him, trying to hold herself together. The eyes that intimidated him before now looked at him full of tears. He wasn’t sure what to do, he wasn’t expecting to see her so vulnerable. He understood how she felt, he had been rejected and abused by the Dursleys all his life but it was different for her, this was her parents.

After a few seconds she finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to bother you with my family drama.”

“No, it’s okay,” he replied. “I’m glad you told me.”

She smiled softly. “I’m glad you listened.”

He returned her smile. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I will be. I just need some time.”

Harry moved closer to her and hugged her. She buried her face in his shoulder and melted into his arms. He knew nothing he could do would make her pain disappear but the least he could do was make her feel safe. He held her as she tried to steady her shaky breath. A few moments later, she let go.

She sniffled and wiped her eyes, smearing her makeup around her eyes. “This isn’t how I expected the night to end,” she said.

“There were a lot of twists,” he agreed.

She chuckled softly.

“Come on,” he told her, extending his arm towards her. “Let’s get you home.”

She smiled and grabbed his arm, but instead of crossing her arm around it like she did before, she took his hand and laced her fingers with his.

Harry’s heart was trying to pound its way out of his chest. His cheeks were burning. She leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked.

“I’m so tired,” she mumbled.

“Me too,” he sighed. “I’ve been up since five in the morning.”

“That’s so sad.” She yawned and rubbed one of her eyes.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “Thank you for listening, I guess I needed to get that off my chest.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’m glad I could help.”

They were already on Wisteria Walk, her house was already visible. They walked slowly, trying to delay the inevitable.

“You can ask your question,” she told him. “If you want.”

He smiled. After all of that, he felt like he had reached a milestone with her, but he still had lots of questions. However, he didn’t want to upset her more. She had just told him something very personal, and the emotional strain from that was very visible. He wanted the night to end on a higher note.

He decided a trivial question would better the mood. “What do you do for work?” 

She laughed and raised her head to look at him. “That’s your question?”

“Yes,” he replied. “You talk about work a lot but you still haven’t told me what you do.”

“Me? I’m a streetwalker.”

Harry burst out laughing. “Really?”

“Nah, I wish. I’m a waitress. I’d be making more money if I was, though.”

“I thought waitresses make good money.”

“Yeah but it’s not even close to what a prostitute makes in one night.”

“You’re joking, right?”

She shrugged. “I have to keep my options open. It’s not like I have a family to disappoint, anyway.”

Harry glanced at her, trying to find a sign in her face that told if she was messing around.

She started laughing. “I’m kidding.”

He rolled his eyes. “I thought you said you were only sarcastic when you felt uncomfortable.”

“I said I used it when I felt uncomfortable, not that I  _ only  _ use it when I’m uncomfortable. Sometimes I just want to mess with people.”

“Great.” He pretended to be offended but in reality he was glad she was back to being herself. Seeing her like that broke his heart.

They reached the house.

“Careful there,” she told him as they were walking up the path to the front door

“Would you let that go? It’s not even funny anymore,” he protested.

“To me it is,” she giggled.

Harry rolled his eyes again. Then they were standing at the front door. Lyra dug her hand into a flower pot, pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

“Well, we’re here,” she said.

“We are,” he replied awkwardly.

She looked into his eyes. “Even after everything that happened tonight, I had a great time with you.”

_ With you.  _ Those words made Harry’s stomach flutter. “Me too. Watching you slap Dudley is the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

She giggled. “Stealing his money and his weed was also fun.”

“You mean my money.”

“Right.”

He fidgeted with the edge of his shirt. “So, are you going to be working the rest of the week or…?”

“Ugh, yeah. My schedule’s a bitch.”

“Oh,” he said, a little disappointed.

“But I don’t work on Thursdays, in case you want to come over and clean up some more cat shit.”

He laughed. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do. You know my schedule is always full so.”

“Of course it is. I hope it’s not too much trouble.”

He shrugged. “I’ll squeeze you in somehow.”

They laughed together for a moment. Harry handed over her shoes.

“Thanks,” she said. She took his hand again and gave it a squeeze. “I’ll see you.”

He wanted to kiss her so badly. They almost did back in his bedroom but he wasn’t sure if she still wanted to. As she was letting go of his hand, he grabbed it, keeping it there. Lyra looked up at him and smiled. She got on her tiptoes and leaned towards him to land a kiss on his cheek, letting go of his hand and cupping his other cheek. His face suddenly became very hot. She pulled back and chuckled at him.

“Lobster,” she said while pinching his cheek.

He shook her hand away. “You really want to start that while you’re looking like a racoon?”

She laughed harder. “Goodnight,” she said as she opened the door.

“Wait, you’re not going to give me my jacket back?”

She scoffed. “No.”

He raised his eyebrows at her but she ignored him and entered the house.

“Bye.”

He sighed. “Sleep well.”

She winked at him before closing the door.

Harry didn’t need the jacket anyway. The night air was cold but his heart was beating so fast he was almost sweating. The talk they had and the kiss she gave him replayed in his head over and over as he walked back to Privet Drive. He was happy that he learned something about her, but the answer to one question only brought up more questions. What happened that made her parents disown their own daughter? He wanted to antagonize them, of course, but he wondered for a moment if maybe she had done something that justified it.

He shook that thought away. Lyra was a good person, at least as far as he knew. Life had just been treating her unfairly, that’s something he could relate to. And she seemed to be pretty shaken up about it, a bad person wouldn’t care, probably. He thought of Sirius, who had been disowned by his mother and had his face burned off the family tree tapestry at Grimmauld Place, only because he didn’t agree with his family’s hate towards muggles. Things like that happened often, he wanted to believe something similar had happened with Lyra and her family. That was much better than thinking she was the bad guy of her story.


	9. Sulk

Harry stood in front of a sleeping Dudley with the garden hose nozzle in his hand. He was still debating whether it was a good idea to spray him with water inside the house. But considering the mess that his cousin’s party had created, the dry punch, and the vomit, he didn’t see another alternative. He pointed the nozzle at Dudley’s face and squeezed the trigger. 

Dudley awoke screaming. He jumped to his feet, drenched. “What the fuck, Potter?!”

“Good morning,” Harry told him in a casual tone.

Dudley growled and stomped towards him but Harry sprayed him again right in the face.

“Stop that!” he yelled, trying to protect his face. Harry stopped spraying. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I am cleaning up the mess that you made! Look at this place!”

Dudley looked around. “So what? Parties get wild sometimes.”

“Well, cleaning up is going to be wild too,” he replied before spraying his face again.

“Enough!” he roared. “I ain’t doing shit for you!”

“For me? You think this is for me?!” Harry yelled. “All of this is your fault! You think you can do whatever you want and that you can get away with anything but not today! I did not spend the last two weeks getting this house ready for your stupid party just so you can ruin it in just a few hours!” He sprayed him again. “This is your house and it was your party,” he sprayed him again. “So you’re going to get off of your fat ass and you’re going to make this house look like it would if you didn’t exist!” He let a long stream hit Dudley’s face, the floor was almost completely covered in water but it really needed it.

Dudley flared his nostrils and balled his fists. “Did you forget that I still have your money?”

Harry sprayed him again. “Did you forget that you’ve been unconscious for two hours?”

That seemed to scare him. “What do you mean? What did you do?”

“I took back what’s mine,” he sprayed him again. “And I took a little something extra too.”

Dudley’s face turned white and it wasn’t because of the cold water. “If you tell mom…” he screamed when Harry sprayed him again.

“I am your mom now.” That sounded better in his head, but he didn’t waver. He couldn’t let this sudden burst of confidence go to waste. “Get to fucking work!”

Immediately, Dudley turned around and went to the kitchen. Harry saw him getting trash bags and immediately started picking up empty cups and bottles. He was amazed. It was the first time in his life that he actually saw Dudley working, and it made him feel amazing. 

While Dudley picked up trash, Harry got to washing the couch. He sprayed it with water and rubbed detergent on it until the smell of vomit was gone. Then he dried it as much as he could with towels and the vacuum cleaner and, with Dudley’s help, he pushed it out to the backyard to dry. It was still early so hopefully it would be dry before his aunt and uncle got home, if not, he could tell them someone spilled soda on it or something. Or he could tell them the truth, that depended on how well Dudley behaved. 

By noon, the house looked at least decent. The floor had been dried. They got out the furniture that had been put away and started setting it in place. The trash had been taken out. The house started looking normal. There was only one thing missing. 

“What about the table?” Dudley asked.

“What about it? You broke it.”

“I know but mom and dad will be furious.”

“So?” Harry asked. “What do you want me to do about it?”

Dudley scoffed. “Whatever, you’re going to say no anyway.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “What?”

“Well,” he said, looking at him through the corner of his eye. “We can buy a new one.”

He laughed. “Even if you had the money to buy a new table, how are you going to go get it? You don’t have a car.”

“I can call Kyle, his brother can drive us.” He paused and then added, “And you have money.”

Harry stared at Dudley blankly for a few seconds before he started cackling like he had just told him the funniest joke in the world. “You really think that after all you’ve put me through in the past week, and all of my life, I would just give you my money so you can replace a table that you broke?” He laughed again. “You will always impress me with your stupidity.”

“I’m going to pay you back,” he said, offended.

“With what? You don’t have a job!”

“Can’t you just do this for me?”

“I’ve done enough for you,” he said in a more serious tone.

Dudley’s nostrils flared. “I’m trying to help you too, you know? Who do you think they’re going to blame? Me, who was just trying to enjoy my party, or you, who was supposed to be in charge?”

Harry was not amused anymore. He stepped closer to Dudley, glaring at him intensely. “When are you going to learn? There is nothing, _nothing,_ that you or your mom or your dad can do to me that’s worse than what you’ve already done. I would rather go back to sleeping in the cupboard, I would rather starve or wear your hand-me-down clothes for the rest of my life, than to help you in anything. I already learned my lesson last summer.”

Dudley swallowed. He didn’t like to be reminded of that summer when he almost got kissed by a dementor and Harry had to break the law to save him. But that was something that Harry would never forget.

Before he could respond, the Dursley’s car pulled into the driveway. Harry went to finish putting everything in its place and left his cousin in charge of the explanations. 

The Dursley’s greeted their son like they always did. They asked about the party and Dudley told them everything. Except everything he told them was a lie. Harry overheard him saying that some lunatic from the neighborhood had come in uninvited, smashed the table along with the punch bowl to pieces, and that he fought him off bravely. Uncle Vernon, of course, revered his son like a hero. Aunt Petunia, on the other hand, glanced at Harry, and the two locked eyes for a second. Harry decided to just mind his own business. He made himself a sandwich and took it up to his room. 

He was exhausted. 

After eating about half of his sandwich, he decided to rest his eyes for a moment and fell asleep immediately.

“Harry,” someone whispered. “Harry, wake up.”

He opened his eyes and saw Lyra hovering over him.

“Harry,” she whispered again, stroking his hair.

“Lyra,” he replied with a sleepy voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Shh.” She climbed on top of him. “Shut up and kiss me.”

“What?” he asked, disoriented.

“Kiss me,” she whispered again.

He pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. He was finally kissing her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, not wanting to let go, ever. She put her hand on his neck, grabbing his jaw and bit his lower lip. He took in a sharp breath. She turned his head to the side and kissed his neck.

“I want you,” she whispered between kisses. 

“I want you too,” he replied, breathing heavily. He grabbed her thighs, squeezing hard.

She kissed him again, deeply and slowly while his hands moved all over her body. Her body was grinding against his to the rhythm of their breathing. She pulled away and looked into his eyes. 

“Take me,” she said to him and kissed him again, moving her hand down to the rim of his pants while she kissed the space below his ear. “I want you, Harry,” she whispered, desperately. 

She looked at him again as she fumbled with the button of his pants, teasing him. “Give me what I want, Harry.”

“Take it,” he said, hoarsely. “Anything you want, you can have it.”

She giggled. “Anything?” she asked.

“Yes,” he breathed.

She kissed him again as she brought her hand up from his pants, up his chest, and started running her fingers through his hair. She put her lips to his ear again. “Give me what I want, _Harry.”_ Her voice suddenly changed, it was underlined with a rasping voice, sounding like a hiss. She raised her head and looked at him, when she blinked, her eyes turned glowing red.

“ _I want you, Harry Potter,_ ” she said, digging her thumb into his scar.

Harry awoke startled with a sharp pain on his scar, his chest rising and falling intensely. He sat up, his shirt was damp with sweat. He looked at the clock on his desk and saw that it was past midnight. 

Hedwig was biting on the bars of her cage, the noise must have been what woke him up. He got to his feet and went to open her cage. She got out happily and climbed into his arm, flapping her wings.

“It’s alright, girl,” he said, scratching the back of her head. “I know you don’t like being locked up.”

He opened the window and Hedwig flew out. The cold night air felt good. It had been a while since Voldemort appeared in his dreams and it made him angry that it had to be _that_ dream. He wasn’t sure now if he was trying to get into his mind or if it had only been a nightmare, but still, he knew he should tell Dumbledore about it.

When he was about to close the window, another owl landed on the window sill with a letter tied to its leg. Harry took the letter and the owl left, he looked at the envelope and saw the unmistakable handwriting of Albus Dumbledore.

The timing of Dumbledore’s announcement couldn’t be worse. He was coming to get him in three days to take him to the Burrow. In normal circumstances, that would have been the best news he could have gotten. He hated the Dursleys just as much as they hated him, and spending the summer with Ron sounded great. But he couldn’t just leave like that after making plans with Lyra. Not after she told him how scared she is of being abandoned. She was the only friend he’s ever had in Little Whinging, and according to what she told him, he was her only friend too.

Harry just wanted to enjoy his summer vacation. It was the first time he actually wanted to be there. And he really liked Lyra. She was beautiful and funny and just the right amount of mean. It was like the universe was tantalizing him. The perfect girl had been thrown in front of him, in a place where he could not stay.

There was also the thing Harry had been trying to ignore. The main reason why they couldn’t be together. He was Harry Potter, The boy who lived, The Chosen One, the one destined to defeat Voldemort and save the Wizarding World. He was in the middle of a war that had his name written all over it, a war that he wasn’t sure if he was going to come out of alive. A lot of people had already died because of this, because of him. Lyra was a muggle, she had nothing to do with his world or with this war. If anything happened to her because of it, he would never forgive himself. Having a relationship with a muggle was the worst thing he could do. He had to end it, and it was better to do it now, before it even started.

But when was he supposed to do it? She was always working, that’s why they had made plans to meet on Thursday, on her day off. But by then, Dumbledore would have already taken him away. He had to find a way to get to Lyra, he couldn’t just go without saying goodbye. All he could think about was how much it would hurt her if he did.

He went to Mrs. Figg’s house on Monday morning, she was happy to see him. She served him tea and they talked for a while, he asked about what the Order was doing and told her about the letter Dumbledore sent him. There were no important news about the war, the only things she told him were things he already read on The Daily Prophet. 

After the conversation seemed to have ended, he decided it was time to ask. “Do you know when Lyra is coming home?”

She looked at him sadly. “Oh, Harry. I know you’re both young and love comes so easy for you, but you have to understand. That girl, she grew up in a completely different world.”

Harry nodded slightly and stared down at his cup.

“She’s been isolated from this war all her life. If the two of you get involved, you’d be putting her in danger.”

“I know that,” he replied. “I just want to say goodbye. I’m leaving in three days.”

They sat there in silence for a few seconds. “Do you want some more tea?”

“No, that’s okay,” he answered, getting up. “I should get going.”

Mrs. Figg nodded. “I’ll tell her you came by.”

“Thanks,” he replied and left.

He went back to the Dursley home and locked himself in his room to sulk. He didn’t need Mrs. Figg to remind him that everyone around him was in danger, he knew that very well. The list of people who had died for him kept getting longer. His parents, Cedric, Sirius.

 _Sirius._ He had been able to ignore the pain so far thanks to Lyra. But now, his summer vacation was over. In three days he had to go back to the world where he belonged. The world he was supposed to save. The world in which everyone he loved was in danger.

A pang of guilt crept over him. He loved the magical world, he wanted to save it. Not just because it was his destiny, he wanted to live in it. That world gave him a sense of purpose, made him feel loved, made him feel welcome. He felt at home immediately after stepping foot in it. 

But just for once he wanted to be just Harry. He wanted to fantasize about the possibility of not being the boy who lived any more. To abandon his responsibilities and just stay in Surrey and live as a muggle with Lyra, forever. And that idea, as crazy as it was, gave him peace.

For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to leave Privet Drive.

The next day, he thought his aunt would wake him up with a long list of chores like she usually did, but he laid awake in his bed until around 11:00 when his hunger took over. He got up, got dressed, brushed his teeth and went down to the kitchen. 

Aunt Petunia was sitting on the new dining table, sipping tea while she skimmed over a magazine. 

“Good morning,” she told him in a curt tone. “Sleep well?”

“I did,” he replied casually as he rummaged through the cabinets. “Thanks for asking.”

She scoffed. “I thought you had become more responsible but it seems you’ve decided to slack off again.”

He rolled his eyes and ignored her. Two weeks of hard work and she says nothing but he sleeps in one day and he’s a slacker. It annoyed him even more the fact that he didn’t even sleep, he just didn’t want to get up. He filled a bowl with cereal and milk and meant to head back to his room.

“Harry,” she called.

He stopped and turned around. “What?”

She sighed. “Sit down.”

He stared at her confused for a moment but did as told. He sat in front of her and ate as he waited for her to start talking, most likely she was about to give him a lecture.

“What happened at the party?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Be more specific.”

“I mean,” she started angrily but took a deep breath and calmed down. “I mean that I find it hard to believe that some kid who wasn’t even invited came in here just to smash my things and left.”

She was looking at him intensely, he knew that lying wouldn’t work this time. Also, why would he lie for Dudley? “I don’t know who broke the punch bowl, but I know it wasn’t Dudley because he was outside when it happened.”

She nodded once and waited for him to continue.

“But he did break the table. He was trying to stand on it.”

She sighed and put her forehead in her palm.

“He also threw up on the couch and the floor,” he continued, “and on himself. But we cleaned that up.”

“So it wasn’t soda what was spilled on the couch?”

“Nope.”

She hesitated, like she didn’t really want to ask anything else but was forcing herself to. “Was he drinking?”

He snorted “They all were. Everyone was wasted.”

“Even you?”

“No,” he answered. “Someone had to stay lucid.”

She nodded slightly and stared down at her hands on the table. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with him,” she murmured.

“It’s okay,” he replied. “It’s not your fault he became a destructive monster. Oh wait, it is your fault, because you raised him like that.”

She glared at him. “Go to your room.”

“Gladly,” he said, getting up. He almost felt bad for her, but after all the years of abuse he endured, she deserved it.

A few hours later, he was bored out of his mind. Part of him was dying to get out of there and be with his friends. Another part of him wanted to be with Lyra. Bottom line, no part of him wanted to be in that house. He couldn’t be alone with his thoughts, his thoughts were not nice.

He got up and walked downstairs, he looked around for his aunt but she was nowhere to be seen, so he just walked out the door.

The sun was going down, there were a few clouds that threatened to rain but so far it was clear. He decided to go to the park. 

He counted his steps just to keep his mind occupied. Thinking of going back to Hogwarts was giving him a bit of anxiety. After last semester, he knew that another year at Hogwarts meant another way that Voldemort was going to try to kill him, and he wasn’t ready for that yet. He didn’t want to think about that, he didn’t want to think about the war. He just wanted his summer vacation to last a little bit longer. And true, he could still enjoy his summer vacation at the Burrow with Ron, but he will spend the entire year with him, a few more weeks with Lyra wouldn’t hurt anyone.

The park was almost empty, there were a few kids but they were pretty far away, they didn’t even notice Harry walking in. He found a nice spot under a tree where he had a good view of the neighborhood. Seeing people go about their lives on a regular Tuesday made him feel very jealous. How everyone could just wake up every morning without the pressure of saving the world on their shoulders. He thought about how much he wanted to just be another teenager on summer vacation. He could ask Lyra on a date without being afraid of somehow Voldemort finding out and using her as bait like he did with Sirius, a bait that he bit and because of that Sirius got killed.

_Stop._

If it wasn’t for him, Sirius would still be alive. If he hadn’t fallen for that trap, he’d be in Grimmauld Place with him instead of cleaning his cousin’s vomit. Sirius could have had a chance at a normal life after spending 12 years in prison.

_Stop it._

Because life handed him the short end of the stick. He didn’t ask to be The Chosen One, he didn’t ask to be orphaned as a baby and left in his aunt’s doorstep, and he certainly didn’t ask to have an evil wizard threatening to kill him and everyone he cares about. He also didn’t ask to be a wizard living in a world of muggles. He hated the fact that all of the reasons why a relationship with Lyra would be impossible was because of magic and its laws.

_Stop it now!_

He banged the back of his head against the tree, making a few loose leaves fall on him. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. There was no point in beating himself up over something he couldn’t change. It was best to just learn how to deal with it and move on.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car horn. He looked for the source of the sound and saw Lyra’s car on the street besides the park.

She rolled down her window. “Are you lost, child?” she yelled.

He smiled and got to his feet.


	10. Angst

It was the first time he’d ever gotten in her car before. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but it certainly wasn’t a mountain of paper coffee cups and fast food wrappings. There were about two changes of clothes in the back seat, a hairbrush, bottles of what looked like lotion or hair products, he couldn’t tell. A hair dryer, about two pairs of shoes, dirty socks, a mirror, shopping bags, and hair ties, there were hair ties everywhere. And that was the stuff he could see on the surface, but there was way more underneath.

“Do you really need all this stuff in your car?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she answered flatly.

“Why do you need so many hair ties? You only have one head.” He bent over and started them picking up.

“You don’t know that.”

A few seconds later he sat up holding around twenty hair ties of all colors. “You don’t think this is excessive?”

“I was in your room, you have no right to lecture me about tidiness.”

He blushed. “Fair enough,” he said before throwing the hair ties back to the floor.

She chuckled. They were parked in front of her house, they had decided to stay inside the car because of the air conditioning. 

“Why were you by that tree looking all miserable?” she asked him.

“Did I look miserable?”

“You still do.”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because I am?”

“Why are you miserable?”

He sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Is your cousin being a dick again?”

He laughed. “He’s never not a dick.”

“Did your aunt and uncle give you shit for the disaster party?”

“Actually, no. And I’m still surprised by it.”

“Well, that’s good.” She pulled off her ponytail and threw the hair tie aside, then she brushed her hair with the brush that was on the backseat. The car suddenly filled with the smell of limes. “So,” she started. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about what’s bothering you?”

“I’m sure,” he replied. There was something else he needed to talk to her about but he couldn’t find the words.

“Okay, well,” she said, tossing the hairbrush over her shoulder. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

He thought that was it, that she was going to tell him to get out of the car and she was going inside to get dinner and he would have to return to Number Four and continue sulking.

“Do you want to go get something to eat?” she asked him. “My treat.”

That surprised him. “Sure.”

She smiled.

Harry had been on the brink of death many times but he had never been more afraid than he was riding shotgun in Lyra’s car. He didn’t know someone could have good and bad reflexes at the same time. At one point she missed a red light and was almost hit by a truck but she managed to turn in time. And then she got mad at the truck driver.

“Were they giving away licences when you got yours?” he asked, holding on to his seat.

“Do you know how to drive?” she replied.

“No,” he admitted. 

“Then shut up.”

He didn’t say anything else but she still slowed down a little. Choosing where to eat was another challenge. Apparently “whatever you want, you’re paying” was not the right answer for her and they argued for around ten minutes before settling for pizza. Luckily she knew a place so they didn’t have to argue about that. She got there pretty quickly, and alive.

They sat across from each other after ordering. She had a funny look on her face, like a child who had just been told she’s getting a puppy.

“If I had known you were taking me out I would’ve dressed nicer,” he said.

“Oh, please,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “I’m still in my work uniform.”

“Don’t you work at a restaurant? Why don’t you eat there?”

She looked at him in the eye. “If I eat there one more time, I’m going to throw up,” she said. “Every time a customer asks me “What do you recommend?” I want to say “I recommend you get the fuck out of here”.”

He laughed. “Is it that bad?”

“It’s not bad, I’m just sick of it.” She sighed dramatically. “But I need the tips so, I just recommend the first thing that comes into my mind.”

“Have you ever accidentally recommended something that’s not on the menu?”

She laughed. “Thankfully no, although that would be hilarious. It’s so annoying when they ask me what to order. How hard is it to read a fucking menu? That’s why it’s there!”

“Maybe they can’t make up their minds.”

“Well, I can’t make it for them. They should know what they want to eat.”

“Like you did before we came here?”

Lyra glared at him, flaring her nostrils. 

He grinned.

She tried to hide a smile but failed. “Remind me again why I brought you here?”

He laughed. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

She chuckled. 

He felt a nudge on his foot, when he looked down, he saw that she was rubbing her foot against his. He looked back up and saw her resting her head on her hand propped on the table, she was smirking.

Why did this have to happen to him now? He was going out with a gorgeous girl that might as well have a huge neon sign that said “I’m into you” and Dumbledore was coming for him the next day. Harry hadn’t hated his life more than in that moment. He had to tell her.

He was about to open his mouth when the server brought them their pizza and set it on the table. Lyra clapped lightly and started dancing in her seat. She thanked the server about four times and dug in immediately.

“You’re really hungry, aren’t you?” 

She giggled, covering her full mouth. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood,” she said after she swallowed. “Cause I get real mad when I’m hungry.”

He would have laughed if he didn’t know that he was going to ruin that good mood later. He might as well enjoy the moment and eat.

After they were done, Lyra paid for the pizza, gave a pretty generous tip to the server and went back to the car. On the way back, she was telling him about a customer who was especially mean to her and how she used toilet water to brew her coffee.

“You’re going to get arrested one of these days.”

“Probably,” she agreed.

There was a window of silence. He wondered if he should take it or wait until they were home. She was driving calmly, unlike earlier when she nearly killed both of them. Maybe she was trying to prolong the moment, or maybe it was just because it had started to rain and it was already dark.

He decided now was as good time as any. “I have something I need to tell you?”

She gasped. “Are you pregnant?”

He laughed. “Yes, how did you know?”

“Your cousin told me. Didn’t you hear? We went on a date last night.”

“Wow. No, I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. He always tells me everything,” he added. 

“Well, we did and it went amazing. I think he’s the love of my life.”

“That’s great! Hey, after you get married, the two of you can become the godparents of my baby.”

They both laughed for a long time which only made Harry feel worse.

He sighed. “No, but really.”

“What’s wrong? Are you dying?”

He hesitated, that was debatable. “No.”

“Well, what is it? I’m getting nervous.”

He shifted in his seat. “I’m... going away for school.”

“Oh,” she replied. “Boarding school?”

“Yes,” he answered.

She exhaled. “When are you leaving?”

He bit his lip. “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!”

He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I found out about this two days ago. I thought I had two more months, school doesn’t really start until September.”

“Then why do you have to leave now?”

He chose his next words carefully, under no circumstance could he let her know anything about Hogwarts. He tried to be as vague as possible. “The Headmaster of my school knows how I’m treated here and he doesn’t want me to stay here the whole summer.”

She shook her head. “Are your aunt and uncle really that terrible?”

He took a deep breath. “You have no idea.”

“Damn,” she whispered. There was a short pause. “Where is he taking you?”

“My best friend’s house. They’re more my family than my own family.”

“That’s good at least.”

They were nearing Privet Drive. He hoped she wouldn’t want him to get out right away, mainly because he wanted to talk to her but also because it was pouring rain.

“Man, fuck families,” she said.

“You can say that again.”

“Why do they hate you so much?”

He shrugged. “Because I’m different?”

She chuckled. “I see what you did there.”

“It’s true.”

She turned into Privet Drive but she parked a couple of houses before Number Four. She took off her seatbelt and turned to him, he did the same.

“What are you thinking?” he asked her.

She sighed. “That I wish we could’ve spent more time together,” she said, looking at him.

“Me too,” he replied. “In any other scenario, leaving this early in the summer would’ve been a blessing for me.”

“What makes this one different?”

He looked into her eyes. “Do you really have to ask that?”

She blushed and looked away.

“I really like you,” he told her. “Really, really like you.”

She chuckled softly and looked at him. 

“And after you told me what happened with your family,” he continued, “I feel really bad about leaving like this. I don’t want you to feel abandoned.”

She looked at him for a few seconds and took his hand. “Are you always this sweet and noble?”

He smiled. “It depends on the person.”

She returned his smile. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I know I don’t have to,” he said. “But I can’t help it. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She drew tiny circles on his palm with her fingers. “I went out with my coworkers for drinks yesterday. They always invite me but I never wanted to go. Yesterday I said “what the hell, what’s the worst that can happen?” And I actually had a good time. They’re really fun people. I talked for hours with one of the other waitresses and I think we became best friends.” She giggled. 

He smiled. “That’s good.”

“Yeah. I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal but it was a huge step for me, and I took it thanks to you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Me?”

She nodded and laced her fingers with his. “It’s so sweet how much you care. You make me feel safe. Thanks to you I was able to open up to new people and now I don’t feel so alone.” She squeezed his hand. “What I mean by this is, I’m going to be okay. What matters now is that you’re okay too. And if that means that you have to go spend the rest of the summer with your friend, then you should.”

He felt like his heart had somehow lodged itself in his throat. “I wish I didn’t have to.”

“It’s not your fault that your family’s shitty.”

“It sucks.”

She nodded. “It does.”

They sat there holding hands like they both wanted to freeze the moment. 

“When will you be back?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Next summer, probably.”

She took a deep breath. “Of course. Boarding school sucks.”

“It’s actually not that bad, I really like it there,” he said.

She smiled. “At least you have that.”

Another moment of silence.

“I’m gonna miss you,” she said quietly. 

“I’ll miss you too,” he replied. “You and your five hundred hair ties.”

She hit him in the arm playfully and laughed. 

He looked out the window, it had stopped raining. 

“I think I should get inside,” he said sadly. “Before it starts raining again.”

She sighed, looking at their intertwined hands. “Okay. I have to get up early tomorrow so I should probably go too.”

They looked at each other, neither of them wanted to let go. Finally she did. He felt like a black hole had appeared in his chest and was sucking everything inside. 

“Come here,” she said with her arms open.

He leaned in and she wrapped him in a tight hug, burying her face in his shoulder.

“Everything’s gonna be okay,” she whispered.

His eyes started to well up with tears. He tried to think about anything else, he did not want Lyra to see him crying. He tried to think about Ron and the Burrow. About Hogwarts, about his classes, about quidditch. Anything to keep his mind off of how her hair smelled like limes and how much he was going to miss her and how many times he would ask himself “What if?” 

They let go of each other, slowly. Before they broke apart completely, he took her chin and leaned in. She turned her face away. Defeated, he planted a kiss on her forehead instead. When he pulled apart, her eyes were red and watery.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be.” He took her hand and kissed it too. “Goodbye, Lyra.”

She sniffled. “Bye, Harry.”

He got out of the car and walked all the way to the house without looking back, he couldn’t bare to. He heard his aunt talking when he walked in, but he didn’t stop to see if she was talking to him. He went straight to his room and got in bed, something he’d done so many times during that summer it almost fell like a deja-vu, and planned to stay there until Dumbledore came to pick him up.


	11. Safe

Harry had barely slept. He kept tossing and turning and once the sun came out, he couldn’t go back to sleep. He stayed in bed, though. Not a single cell in his body wanted to get up. He just laid there staring at the ceiling wishing for something to fall on him and crush him to death. 

His intrusive thoughts were interrupted by the muffled voices of his aunt and uncle. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but it sounded like they were arguing, which was a first for him. The conversation ended with a harsh statement from uncle Vernon, and it was followed by him going downstairs and leaving for work. 

A few hours later, when his hunger became unbearable, he got up and went to the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was there. She didn’t react to him entering the room, Harry was used to this. She was too busy wiping down the counters. Harry just fixed himself a quick meal and was going to go back to his room when he noticed his aunt had cleaned the same spot for the third time. 

He hesitated, part of him told him to ignore her and just go back to his room, but this was the first time he had heard them arguing, and he wasn’t sure how she reacted to these things. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

She flinched. “Just fine,” she answered in the same tone she used to greet uncle Vernon’s clients when they visited and continued wiping.

He stared at her. He could see the tension in her arm, like she was trying to get off a tough stain that only she could see. He stepped closer to her, slowly, and grabbed her arm. Not too hard, just firm enough to get her to stop.

She looked at him with wide eyes, like she’d been woken up. She pulled her arm out of Harry’s grasp and left the kitchen without saying another word.

Harry was confused and a little worried that his aunt was going insane. But he ignored it and went back to his room. Dudley didn’t seem to be in the house, there was usually the sound of the tv coming from his room but it was silent. He didn’t see where his aunt went and he didn’t really care. But he still found it a little strange. She had always been a proud housewife, she treated her home like it was her other child. But now it seemed as if that housewife persona that she had used all her life was finally cracking. 

He decided he had more things to worry about than his crazy aunt. It’s not like she’s ever done anything for him anyway. 

He spent the remainder of his time reading newspapers and going through old books. The hours seemed to go on forever. He wished Dumbledore had told him at what time he was coming for him. He was tired of waiting. No matter how much he tried to keep his mind occupied, his thoughts took over. As if he needed another reason to be sad, now he was heartbroken.

The conversation he had with Lyra went better than he expected. That didn’t mean that it went good. But he had to admit that when she told him she was no longer afraid of people, he felt very happy. It was the best thing he could hear. Finally affecting someone’s life in a positive way made him feel amazing. Possibly not seeing her again in his life made him very sad.

If only he would have had until the end of summer to be with her. Who knows if after he got to know her better they would end up hating each other? It would be way easier to leave that way. Why did he have to like her that much? What’s so great about her? Not much. 

All the things he liked about her were very superficial. She was gorgeous and she smelled really good. What else? Yes, her eccentricness and her sense of humor fascinated him. He’d never met a person who loved and hated themselves so much at the same time. She was like the embodiment of an oxymoron. She could be mean but she could also be very caring. She was strong and self-assured and at the same time she had a lot of weaknesses and fears. She made him feel free, free of his responsibilities and expectations, but she also made him feel trapped, in the secret that he had to keep from her.

He knew there were wizards and witches who married muggles. His friend Seamus talked about his parents a lot, how his dad is a muggle and his mother is a witch. And he wasn’t the only one. But he just didn’t know how to even start a conversation like that. What would he say? And according to the law of secrecy, when should he tell her? Would he have to wait until they’re married or could he tell her at the beginning? And on top of all of that, what if he told her and she freaked out and never wanted to see him again?

Something told him that she wouldn’t. She was weird in her own way, having a wizard boyfriend was probably a good thing for her. He started picturing what it would be like. He would show off with spells, show her how to travel with flu powder, taking her for a ride on his broomstick, getting stuff down from the high shelves she couldn’t reach. A million things went through his mind, and each one made him feel more melancholic than the last.

_But what Mrs. Figg said is true. She could become a target._

How would Voldemort even know about her? The whole point about him being stuck in Privet Drive every summer was because he was safe from him there. Plus, he was getting better at occlumency.

Would it really be so bad if he stayed for the rest of the summer there? He had two more months, a lot of things could happen in two months. They could go see a movie, have dinner together, hang out… anywhere, they could go for a walk in the park, hold hands, and kiss.

His eyes darted to the door of his bedroom, where they stood on the night of the party, their arms wrapped around each other. He should’ve kissed her right then and there, he should’ve ignored Dudley’s disaster. Fucking Dudley always ruining everything for him. He had the girl of his dreams in his room, alone, about to kiss him, and he let that moment go. 

He felt so stupid. That had been the most recurring feeling for him lately. He felt stupid, mediocre, miserable. Everything that had happened to him until that moment weighed on his shoulders like it was his fault. 

_Sirius._

No. Thinking about him was useless. There was nothing he could do to change what happened. And being depressed about it didn’t change anything either. He had to stop at some point. He did not come into this world just to suffer. It was time something good happened to him, and something good had happened. He didn’t know what the future would bring, but he knew one thing: if he let her go, he would always regret it.

His mind was made up.

Someone was knocking at the front door.

“Are you ready to leave now, Harry?” 

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in the living room, directly in front of the three Dursleys who seemed petrified. After everything his headmaster had just said, who wouldn’t be? Not only had he called them out on the years of neglect and abuse they had put Harry through, he also implied that how they were raising Dudley was just as bad, or even worse. Harry saw his uncle’s offended expression, his son was his pride and joy and claiming he had mistreated him in any way was a blow to his ego. Aunt Petunia, on the other hand, kept a stern face.

“Actually, sir,” he began in a calm voice, “I think I want to stay here a little longer.”

The three Dursleys looked at him, incredulous. Dumbledore glanced at him over his spectacles.

“Do you, now?”

“Yes,” he reassured. “Like you said, I’m safe here because of the protective spell.”

“Is that the only reason?” Dumbledore asked him.

Harry swallowed. “No. I just…” He didn’t see the point in lying to Dumbledore but he also didn’t want to tell him the whole truth. At least not in front of the Dursleys. “I need a break,” he paused, “from magic. From everything really,” he admitted. “This is the only place where I can get that.”

Dumbledore stared at him for a few seconds. Harry hated when he did that, it felt like he was looking right into his soul. 

Finally, he gave him a nod. “Very well, Harry,” he said in the same serene tone he always had and stood up. “Let me know whenever you’re ready to come back. I hope this doesn’t mean you’re not planning on coming for your sixth year.”

“No!” he answered quickly. “I’m definitely coming, I just want to stay here a few more weeks.”

He was sure he heard uncle Vernon harrumphing. He knew they wouldn’t be too happy about him staying but he didn’t care. He wasn’t staying for them.

“Glad to hear that,” Dumbledore replied. “Now, there is another matter I was hoping you could assist me with. I will only take a couple of hours of your time.”

The previous night, he couldn’t sleep because of how depressed he was, this time he was too nervous. 

He knew he should expect a letter from Ron soon asking him why he blew them off. He considered writing to him first but he couldn’t get the words out. He was too excited. He couldn’t stop thinking about Lyra. 

Part of him asked himself if he’d just made a huge mistake, then he remembered her lime scented hair and the question disappeared. Plus, if it was a mistake, Dumbledore wouldn’t have let him stay. _Dumbledore doesn’t know why you’re staying._ Irrelevant. Also, Mrs. Figg was keeping tabs on him all the time. If she hadn’t told Dumbledore yet, she will soon.

Harry didn’t care. He was having a rush of adrenaline that was making him almost euphoric. He kept looking at the clock hoping to see that it was already morning but the more he looked the slower it seemed to get. 

He managed to sleep a couple of hours but he was woken up by the sound of shouting. He got off the bed and stepped closer to the door. His aunt and uncle were fighting intensely. He had never heard them fighting in his entire life and now they did two days in a row. He wished he could tell what they were saying but he couldn’t, although he was almost sure that he heard his name once or twice. He wondered if Dudley could hear them too and what he was thinking about it.

After they were done yelling, uncle Vernon left for work. Harry went to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth and when he came out, he thought he could hear his aunt crying in her room. 

For a fraction of a second, he wanted to go in and ask what was going on. After Dumbledore’s lecture from last night, he assumed they would be a little on edge. But honestly, he thought that if they never cared about him before, why would they care now? There must’ve been something else going on between them, and that was none of Harry’s business.

He knew it was kind of early but he couldn’t wait any longer. He walked all the way to her house so fast he was almost jogging. He was glad the air was still cool because he did not want to get there all sweaty. 

Just seeing her car made his heart start jumping. His body felt very hot, and it wasn’t because he just almost ran. He walked to the door and knocked.

Suddenly, he became very nervous. What if Mrs. Figg answered and didn’t let him inside? What if she told him to go back home and forget about Lyra? Or what if he did get to talk to her but she already had another boyfriend?

A hundred catastrophic scenarios went through his mind in one minute while he waited for it to be answered. Two minutes went by and he knocked again. Still no answer. He was getting more anxious. 

_They’re probably still sleeping_.

He felt a little bad about that but he wasn’t going to go back home. He knocked again, this time the door opened while he was knocking and he almost lost balance. He stood upright and put his hands behind his back.

Lyra stood there in front of him. She looked at him pissed, with bags under her eyes and her hair tied in a messy and loose bun. It took her a second to realize it was Harry who she was looking at. Her expression went from menacing to shocked. 

“Harry,” she said. “What are you…?” She yawned. “What are you doing? I thought you were leaving,” she said rubbing her eyes.

“I was,” he admitted. He noticed she was wearing his jacket. “But I didn’t.”

She stared at him dumbfounded for a few seconds, then she stood aside and gestured him to come inside, closing the door behind him. “What did you do?”

He frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

She went over to the kitchen and picked up a cup of coffee that was on the counter. “You said you were leaving because your family was horrible to you,” she said, leaning back against the counter. “Why are you here? Why didn’t you go?” She didn’t sound very happy with his decision.

“I didn’t want to go.” He stood there in front of her, suddenly thinking she might have wanted him to leave.

“You actually want to stay with your aunt and your uncle and your dick cousin?”

“No,” he answered. “I want to stay with you.”

Her face turned red but her expression didn’t change. She looked away. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

His heart dropped. “I thought you didn’t want me to go.”

“I didn’t,” she replied. “I don’t, but… This isn’t about what I want, this is about you being safe.”

“I am safe,” he stated, taking a step closer to her. “Yes, they hate me and I hate them but I’m practically immune to them. There’s nothing they can do that they haven’t already done.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is it?” He was starting to get very anxious. 

She looked at him and put her cup back on the counter. “I don’t want you to stay for me,” she said urgently. “I don’t want to be the reason why you have to take more shit from your family.”

They looked at each other. He stayed quiet while he processed what she said, but he finally understood why she was upset.

“I didn’t stay just to make you happy,” he said calmly. “I stayed because you’re the only good thing that has ever happened to me in this place. And it would kill me if the last memory I had of you was leaving you teared up in the rain.”

Her eyes turned red with tears.

“I still have to go in September,” he continued. “But I want to spend the rest of my summer with you.”

She raised her eyebrows. “So you’re doing it for purely selfish reasons, then.”

He threw his hands in the air in desperation but she just started laughing. 

“It’s okay,” she said, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek. “I actually respect that more.”

“You respect me more for doing something for selfish reasons?”

“Yes,” she said like it was obvious. “I can’t stand it when people do noble acts just for the sake of doing them, no one is really that selfless. Just be upfront about what you want to get out of it.”

He stared at her, confused. “So, are we good?”

She sighed and stepped closer to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. “I am happy that you stayed,” she said, rubbing her thumbs on him. “I still think it was stupid,” she admitted. “But if you want me that badly, then I guess I have no choice.”

He chuckled and put his hands behind her elbows, bringing her closer. “You do have a choice. You can tell me to fuck off and leave you alone.”

She puckered her lips to the side. “I don’t think I want that.” She slid her hands forward and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“What do you want?” he asked, his hands firmly grasping her waist. Their faces were so close he could feel the warmth of her breath.

“This,” she whispered before finally kissing him.


	12. Ties

Harry and Lyra were in the backseat of a car kissing passionately. His hands were all over her while she clutched the back of his shirt, keeping their bodies pressed tightly against each other. He didn’t know where they were or how they got there, but it did not matter. She was all that mattered.

The moment broke when he felt the car moving, and then stopped. He looked up and saw that the driver’s and passenger’s seats were taken by two strangers, who seemed completely unaware of the two stowaways in the backseat. They were having a conversation that Harry could not hear, like there was an invisible barrier between the two couples.

Lyra didn’t seem to notice their company and turned his face towards her to continue kissing him, but he stopped her. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out, Lyra looked at him confused.

Then, the car shook. The couple in front of them exchanged worried looks and the driver tried to move forward but there were more cars in front of them. The car shook again, harder this time. Seeing as there was no way to move forward, the two strangers got out of the car and ran. Harry looked out the window and he could see more people doing the same. He opened the door to get out but Lyra pulled him by the arm and embraced him. 

“Don’t go,” she purred.

She kissed him and he melted into her. Whatever was happening outside could wait. 

The car shook again, people were running and screaming. Harry looked out and saw, up in the sky, the green skull he’d seen many times before.  _ The dark mark. _

With one last tremble, the street beneath them crumbled, and everything on it plummeted into the water below.

Harry woke up startled, the usual pain on his forehead and soreness in his throat meant he had been screaming. He took a few deep breaths and started to calm down. He took comfort in the fact that the dream did not make any sense. Usually when his dreams made sense, it meant they were real.

He got up, did his usual morning routine and headed downstairs, ignoring the letter that had been sitting on his desk for days now. It was from Ron, so he had an idea of what the letter said. 

As he was walking down the stairs, he heard his aunt’s voice coming from the living room. She sounded very angry. Harry considered going back to his room but he was very hungry. He walked into the kitchen as quietly as possible and started making himself a sandwich but he dropped a knife and it clattered on the floor.

“Harry?” Petunia called.

He closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. “Yes?”

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry. I didn’t break anything.” 

Uncle Vernon let out an exasperated sigh. “Are we done here, Petunia?”

“No, we are not!”

Harry knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop on them, but it wasn’t his fault they chose to fight in the living room. 

“What more do you want, woman? He already said he’s sorry.”

“Sorry is not enough,” she shrieked. “There were minors drinking alcohol in our house! What if some of the other parents find out that we left their children unsupervised? What if someone had gotten hurt? We would be responsible for that!”

“Then let's all be thankful that no one got hurt.”

“That is not the point!”

Harry started working on his sandwich very slowly. So Dudley was the reason they had been fighting. 

“This can never happen again,” she yelled.

“And it won’t,” her husband replied calmly but firmly. “He gave us his word.”

“His word is not enough, we need to punish him.”

“You can’t punish him just because some kids got out of control with their drinking.”

“He was one of those kids! He got drunk and he broke our furniture!”

“We already talked about this and he said it wasn’t him.”

“Yes it was!”

“We weren’t here so there is no way for us to know for sure. And I for one, trust the word of my son.”

“Well, I don’t!” she yelled.

Vernon gasped. “Petunia!”

“He lies to us all the time and he gets away with everything! We can’t keep allowing it! Don’t you realize that we’re raising a delinquent?”

Vernon scoffed. “Petunia, just let the poor boy enjoy his birthday. Sometimes boys just need to be boys.”

Petunia exploded. “Would you stop trying to relive your youth through your son before he ends up in prison?!”

Harry almost choked on his sandwich.

“I’m not talking to you while you’re being so hysterical,” said Vernon before walking out of the living room. 

“Don’t you dare walk away from me!” she yelled after him.

Vernon ignored her. He grabbed his keys, went out the front door and left in his car.

Harry heard his aunt let out a frustrated groan. He poked his head around the corner and saw her sitting with her forehead in her hands. He didn’t want to but he definitely felt bad for her now.

He stepped a little closer to her. “Wow,” he started. “You really let him have it.”

“Save it,” she said sharply without looking up.

“No, really. I mean, does he expect Dudley to change by just asking him nicely?”

She sighed. “I don’t think he wants him to change at all.” She lifted her gaze to look at him, her a bitter expression on her features.. “You really should have gone with your teacher, Harry.”

“And miss this whole shit show?” He laughed cynically. “This is the first time I’ve ever felt happy in this house.”

She shot him a glare but her face filled with dread quickly. “After everything that has happened, you’re the only person in this house that doesn’t lie to me.”

That surprised Harry to the point where he didn’t know what to say next. He just stood there with what was left of his sandwich in his hand, looking at his aunt like she was some new magical creature he had just discovered.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” she spat.

He shrugged slightly. “Not until five.”

“Then go find something, just leave me alone,” she told him, brushing him off with her hand.

He turned on his heels and walked up to his room with a strange feeling on his chest. He’s always found it annoying when his aunt acted like her home was the most perfect and most loving home there was, while he was being neglected and abused. How she would always look the other way when Dudley did something or acted like the spoiled brat he was. Lately, it seemed like she had finally burst out of that bubble. 

He heard Dudley playing video games in his room, completely unaffected by the fighting he’d caused. Harry almost wanted to go in and tell him off, like he did the day after the party, but decided against it. He was going on a date with Lyra and he wasn’t going to let this ruin his mood. 

He sat down on his desk chair to finish eating, doing his best to ignore Ron’s letter. It wasn’t like he was avoiding his best friend, he just knew that Ron would ask him why he stayed and he didn’t want him to think that he ditched him for a girl, even though that was exactly what he had done. As long as Ron didn’t know that, he didn’t have to feel like the worst friend ever.

The sound of aunt Petunia stomping up the stairs, interrupted Harry’s thoughts. Then, loud banging.

“Dudley! Open the door!”

Harry rolled his desk chair closer to the door to listen. He heard the door open and Dudley’s voice mumbling something. 

“I am sick and tired of your slobbish behavior!” she yelled. “For once in your life, get off your lazy ass and go do something productive!”

“Have you gone insane?” Dudley replied.

“Oh, no. Not even close, and you do not want to know what happens when I do. So do as you’re told!”

Harry had both hands covering his mouth and his eyes were wide open. He could not believe what he was hearing. That was probably the first time aunt Petunia had ever used the word “ass”.

Dudley wasn’t convinced. “What am I even supposed to do? There’s nothing to do here.”

“There’s plenty of things to do. I want you downstairs in two minutes, and if I have to come back up you’re going to regret it.” 

With that, she left. Harry was tempted to open his door to see Dudley’s face but he knew that if his cousin saw him right now, he would surely be punched. He stayed by the door and heard Dudley cursing under his breath as he walked downstairs.

The next few hours, Harry spent doing his summer homework next to the window and occasionally glancing out and watching Dudley struggle with the lawnmower. It was the most fun he’d ever had in that house. 

It also helped him alleviate his nerves. Thinking about Lyra made his insides turn to chowder. They were finally going on their first official date in a few hours and it was making him really anxious. He was happy, of course, but he was also very afraid that something might go wrong. 

He thought that, by staying, he could relax but the truth was, he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. A few days ago all he wanted was to be with Lyra. Now that they were actually together, he was under constant stress thinking about what would happen if she found out he was a wizard. He spent the last days running countless scenarios in his head of how she would react. Most of them were not positive at all.

It also didn’t help that the only person who knew about them, did not fully approve. Mrs Figg had not taken it well when she found out Harry had decided to stay for the summer. She hadn’t said anything but he could see it in the way she looked at him. 

None of that mattered to him. Lyra wanted to be with him and that’s all he cared about.

The hours passed slowly but he was ready by five, as promised. He’d picked out his best shirt and even ironed it the night before, he wanted to look his best. He tried to comb his hair but that was a hopeless battle. Soon enough, he heard the horn of a car that could only be Lyra’s. 

He ran downstairs, and just when he was about to open the door, his aunt’s voice stopped him. 

“Where are you going?” her voice was authoritative.

Harry looked at her solemnly. “Out.”

Petunia crossed her arms. “Do you think you can come and go as you please?”

He shrugged lightly. “Yes.”

“You can’t do whatever you want!”

“After all the bullshit I go through in this house, I think I can,” he spat. 

Her nostrils flared. “Watch your mouth,” she warned. “Things are going to change in this house and that applies to you too.”

“You’ve never cared about what I did or what happened to me before, you don’t have to pretend to start now just because Dumbledore called you out.”

Petunia’s eyes went wide. She opened and closed her mouth a few times but she didn’t seem to find the right words. Finally, after a few seconds of silence, she exhaled angrily and said, “We’ll talk when you get back.”

Harry waved his hand dismissively at her and left. He was glad to finally see her putting some control over Dudley, he thought she would finally lay off of him. It didn’t really matter to him, he was done with them.

Lyra was waiting for him outside. She kept honking at him as he walked towards the car,which he knew his aunt must have hated. Once he got in, she stopped.

“Did you enjoy that?” he asked her.

“You were taking forever,” she complained.

“You haven’t been here more than two minutes,” he replied as he buckled his seat-belt.

“And that’s already too long.”

“Well, I’m sorry for being such an inconsiderate jerk,” he said sarcastically.

“I accept your apology,” she replied with a grin before driving off.

Harry caught a glimpse of Dudley’s incredulous face as they left the house behind. That was definitely a highlight of the night.

Lyra was singing along quietly to the radio. She was wearing his jacket again, and her hair fell down her shoulder in a loose braid. 

She glanced at him briefly and noticed him staring. “What?” 

“You look very pretty,” he said without thinking.

Her cheeks turned bright red. “Stop,” she whined.

He grinned. “But you do.”

She pouted. “Thank you,” she said. “You look nice too.”

“Thanks, I tried.”

“Well, you succeeded.” She reached over and took his hand which made his insides melt.

He still couldn’t believe this was real. It felt almost like a dream, he just hoped it wouldn’t end like they usually did. He looked around and saw that her car had a lot less clutter than usual.

“You cleaned up?”

“I did,” she said proudly. “Can’t drive around in a dumpster if we’re dating.”

He chuckled. “I don’t mind your mess.”

“It was getting a little out of hand,” she admitted. “I gave my coworker a ride the other day and she accused me of being a hoarder.”

“Which you kind of are,” he muttered.

“Shut up, I’m not a hoarder, I’m just lazy.”

“How is that better?”

Lyra shot him a phony glare. “Give me one reason not to turn this car around.”

“Because you like me.”

“Jury’s still out on that one.”

“I’m paying for dinner,” he added.

She deliberated for a moment. “Yeah, that’s a good one.”

Harry looked at her and shook his head. “You’re so mean.”

She smirked at him. “You like it.”

He tried to find something to say against that but he couldn’t. Feeling her hand on his thigh did not help. Truth was, she was driving him crazy in every conceivable way. He liked everything about her.

They rode the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, holding hands, while the radio played in the background. A few minutes passed and they reached their destination, a small roadside cafe that was right across from a huge park. Lyra parked on the street and the two walked to the restaurant and sat on the balcony outside. 

“This place is really nice,” he said, admiring the canopy above them.

“I know,” she replied, excitedly. “The food is amazing. They have the most amazing strawberry shortcake I’ve ever had. And I’ve eaten a  _ lot _ of strawberry shortcake in my life.”

“Noted.”

Lyra smiled and reached over to him, holding his hands. “I can’t believe we’re finally on a date.”

He sighed with relief. “I know. This whole thing has been a roller coaster.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know. I’m so glad it’s over now.”

The server came over and handed them menus before taking their drink orders. Lyra shuffled through the menu, squinting over the pages.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

She glanced up at him. “Yeah, why?”

“You seem to be struggling with the menu.”

“I am.” She scoffed. “It’s a little hard to read, the letters are really small.”

Harry looked down at his menu, it looked completely normal. “No, they’re not.”

“Well not to you, you have glasses.”

“Then maybe you need glasses too.”

She cackled. “No, I don’t”

“Have you ever had an eye exam?” he asked her.

“Yes, and they said my sight was perfect,” she said smugly.

“When was this?”

She shrugged. “A few years ago.”

“You’re supposed to get one every year.”

“Why? My eyes are fine.”

“Didn’t you get tested when you got your driver’s licence?”

She stammered. “Yes, I did,” she said in an unusually loud tone. “Like I said, everything was fine.” She looked away and sipped her drink.

He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you being weird?”

She almost choked on her drink. “I’m not being weird, you’re the one asking weird questions.”

He snickered. “You’re the one in denial about needing glasses.”

She set down her cup on the table loudly while biting her lip to avoid smiling. “Fine. I have a pair of glasses that I don’t wear because I hate them. Happy?”

Harry burst out laughing. “Do you hate being able to see?”

Lyra leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. “I hate looking like a fucking nerd.”

“Are you saying I look like a nerd?” he asked, still laughing.

“No. You look cute with glasses, I don’t!”

“I seriously doubt that.”

The server came back to take their order and Lyra’s voice changed immediately to a cheery tone. He found himself staring at her, mesmerized by her smile and the way she tucked a stray streak of hair behind her ear. He didn’t even notice when the server asked him what he wanted until Lyra kicked him in the chin.

When the server was gone, she stared at him giggling under her breath. 

“So,” he said, resting his arms on the table. “When am I gonna see you with your glasses on?”

She rolled her eyes. “Never, if I can help it.”

“You know that, if you don’t wear them, your eyesight's just gonna get worse, right?”

“That’s a future me problem. I’m young and I have a beautiful face and I’m not going to hide it behind some ugly glasses.”

“Future you is going to be blind.”

“Well that’s too bad.”

“Can you at least wear them while you drive so I don’t have to be scared for my life?”

“My driving skills have nothing to do with my sight.”

“How did you even get your licence?”

“Obviously I wore them the day I took the exam.”

“Are you wearing them in your picture?”

She was quiet for a few seconds. “No.”

He grinned. “I think you are.”

“I think you are walking home if you keep pestering me.”

“Lyra,” he started, taking her hand. “Nothing can make you look ugly. That’s physically impossible.”

She blushed and tried to suppress a smile. “Stop that.”

“What? I thought you liked being complimented.”

“I do, you just took me by surprise,” she said, drawing small circles on his palm with her finger.

“I’ll give you a heads up next time, don’t worry.”

She giggled. He took that as a victory.

“Yeah, in about,” he looked at his watch,” ten minutes I’ll tell you how pretty your hair looks.”

“Great,” she said with a smile. “I’ll write it down in my planner.”

Harry thought she was kidding but she reached into her purse and pulled out a small notebook and a pen. “Are you seriously doing it?”

“I’m an organized person.” She passed the pages until she got today’s date. “Okay, so at 6:15,” she said as she wrote, “I will receive a compliment from Potter.”

He stared at her with his hand over his mouth holding in his laughter.

“There.” She held the notebook in front of him. “Now it’s official. I even put a little heart beside your name.”

Harry looked at the page and then back at her with a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest. “Why are you so adorable?”

She plopped the notebook down on the table. “You said you’d give me a heads up!”

“I’m sorry,” he laughed. “But I can’t help it. You’re just too damn cute.”

She groaned and pulled the hood of the jacket over her head to hide her reddened face. 

“Also,” he added. “Did I mention how good you look in my jacket?”

“I think you mean my jacket,” she replied, showing only one eye.

“I bought it!”

“And then you gave it to me.”

“As a favor.”

She crossed her arms. “So, what? You want it back?”

“No. I just want you to acknowledge that it’s mine.”

“Make me.”

Harry felt a slight shiver go down his spine. She may have noticed because she raised an eyebrow and gave him a smirk. She knew exactly what she was doing.

The server came back with their food. Lyra pulled down the hood and bounced in her seat while the server set down the plates. She must have been pretty hungry because she was quiet for a few minutes while she ate. Her planner still laid open at the side of the table. Harry glanced at it and felt giddy seeing the little heart she put beside his name. 

“What else do you have written on there?” he asked to make conversation.

She shrugged. “Stuff,” she replied, taking the notebook. “I write everything down so I don’t forget. Which reminds me, when’s your birthday?” she asked him, holding the pen.

“July thirty-first,” he answered.

She looked at him surprised. “That’s next month!”

“I know.”

“That’s great!” She passed through the pages of her planner looking for the date. “We have to celebrate. I’ll ask for the day off so we can do something.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

She looked at him mildly annoyed. “I don’t  _ have  _ to do anything, Potter. I do things because I want to.” She found the page and wrote “Harry’s Birthday” in big letters. “And then we’ll celebrate my birthday which is two weeks after that.”

“Really?”

She grinned. “Yeah, August twelve.”

He chuckled. “We’ll get to celebrate both our birthdays before I leave.”

She nodded while she doodled on the page, she drew a heart beside Harry’s name and a tiny birthday cake with candles.

He took her hand and she looked up at him. She was smiling again but he could see that she was a little bit sad. It made him feel guilty for mentioning that. He didn’t like to think about the fact that their relationship had an expiration date, it couldn’t be any easier for her. 

“Sorry,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

She squeezed his hand. “It’s okay, I know the deal.”

That did not make him feel better, but Lyra smiled reassuringly. “Let’s not think about that now.” She put her planner back in her purse and went back to her meal.

Harry nodded, that was something he could get on board with. Not thinking about stuff was a skill he’d almost mastered.

“So,” she said casually. “Are things okay at your house? You never told me what happened after the party.”

“Nothing did happen, until today. I think my aunt has finally lost her shit.”

Lyra lifted her eyebrows expectantly. “Did you get in trouble?”

“No, but Dudley did. She found out about the drinking and she yelled it him and made him do all the housework.”

“That’s awesome! How did she find out?”

He shrugged and didn’t answer.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You snitched,” she said with a smirk.

“I have no reason to protect Dudley.”

“Did you tell her about the pot too?”

“No, I’m saving that one for now. It could be useful later.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You’re bad.”

“You’re one to talk, you basically torture your customers when they’re rude.”

She scoffed. “That’s nothing. I did way worse things when I was a child.”

“Like what?” 

Lyra hesitated. “I probably shouldn’t say.”

“Oh, come on,” he complained. “Now you have to tell me.”

She bit her lip nervously. “If you think I’m mean now, you’re gonna think I’m downright evil.”

“I grew up with Dudley, who punched me and insulted me on a daily basis. My bar for evil is pretty high.”

“Did Dudley ever tie you up and leave you inside a closet for five hours?”

His eyes went wide for a second. “No… Did you do that?”

She took a sip of her drink without meeting his eyes. “I was young and spoiled. I didn’t know my actions had consequences.”

“You…” Harry stammered, he didn’t even know where to start.

“Obviously, I feel bad about it now. But at the moment it was just a prank that went too far. My mother yelled at me for hours, I don’t think she ever looked at me the same way again.”

He was still processing the whole thing. “So you… You tied someone up…”

“And gagged him,” she added.

“Why? And how?”

She shrugged. “Like I said, it was a prank. I told him we were playing a game and he let me.”

“Who?”

“My baby brother.”


	13. Spoiled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning for physical abuse.

Harry was not packing. He just decided to put all of his stuff in his trunk just in case something happened and he had to go away suddenly. Not that he was hoping that would happen, or that it had already happened. It was just a precaution. And it certainly had nothing to do with him finding out Lyra was a bit of a sociopath.

So far he had enjoyed all the time he spent with her, he definitely liked her. A lot. There was just the small issue with her family. Up until that moment, whenever he thought about Lyra being disowned, he assumed her parents were monsters and that she had done nothing wrong. But he couldn’t get that story about her brother out of his head. He wanted to think she was completely innocent, that she didn’t know better. It was easier than to think she was the monster and her family did the right thing by kicking her out.

“Harry!”

The sudden call from his aunt startled him, making him hit his head on the frame of his bed. He’d been trying to reach a shoe that had found its way under his bed. He turned to see aunt Petunia standing in his doorway, giving him a stern look. She was still pissed at him for what he said as he was leaving with Lyra, even though it had already been a week. Petunia was not big on letting things go.

“Yes?”

“You have a phone call.”

“From who?”

“I don’t know. I assume it’s one of your  _ friends, _ ” she said before going back downstairs.

Harry sprang to his feet. The only people who called him were Ron and Hermione, and either one of them was probably calling him to tell him they were picking him up. Or to ask why he had not replied to any of their letters.

At first he had been eager to tell his friends all about Lyra, hoping they would understand why he decided to stay with the Dursleys that summer. Now... he wasn’t so sure he wanted to tell them. He just wanted Ron to show up out of nowhere and take him away like he usually did. 

_ After you decided to stay for her, now you’re just going to leave without even saying anything?  _

It’s true, he felt like a jerk. Moreso after knowing about her fear of abandonment. But if he has no choice in the matter, maybe the guilt won’t be so bad.

He got to the phone, ready to explain everything to his friends.

“Hello,” he said.

“Are you avoiding me, Potter?”

Harry’s eyes went wide. “Lyra.”

“Oh, good. You still remember me.”

He sighed. “I’m not avoiding you.”

“I haven’t heard from you for a week.”

“It’s not my fault. You’re always working.”

“Don’t give me that crap! I always make time for you and you know that. I thought you’d been grounded or something and now I find out that you’ve been coming here while I’m at work!”

Aunt Petunia was eyeing him from the kitchen with an arched eyebrow, he knew she could hear Lyra yelling at him.

“It wasn’t intentional,” he said in a hushed tone.

“Really?” she replied, unconvinced. “Look, if you don’t want to see me anymore, at least have the balls to say it to my face instead of hiding like a coward.”

That one really stung him. “That’s not it!”

“Than what is it?!”

“Can you stop yelling at me?”

“I’ll stop yelling when you stop avoiding me!”

“Fine,” he said, defeated. “Can I come over?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

She was quiet for a moment. “Meet me at the park in twenty minutes.”

“Alright.”

She hung up.

Harry hung up the phone and closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall. He deserved this and he knew it. She was right, he was hiding away. How was it so easy for him to throw himself in front of a dozen Death Eaters while confronting a girl seemed so hard? He went up to his room to change and went back down.

“I’m going out,” he told his aunt and went out the door without waiting for a response.

He tried to concentrate on his steps and his breathing to avoid noticing the force that was pulling on his insides. Any slip ups and his head would come up with a million scenarios in which Lyra bites his head off or tells him he’s the worst human being that ever existed.

She was easy to spot once he got to the park. The sun reflected on her blonde hair was like a spotlight. He walked up to her, she was sitting on a bench under a tree. His heart jumped, even when she was angry she was beautiful. She didn’t look at him, even when he was literally standing by her side.

“Can I sit?” he asked.

She nodded, still not looking at him.

He sat down by her side, keeping a respectful amount of distance. That’s when he noticed she had his jacket folded in her lap. His heart sank.

“Hey,” he said.  _ Okay, that was pathetic. _

“Hey,” she replied, her tone surprisingly mellow. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. It’s been a stressful week.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” She took a shaky breath. “Let’s just cut the bullshit, okay? I know why you’re avoiding me.”

“I’m not avoiding you.”

“Don’t lie to me. You think this is the first time this has happened to me? This is why I don’t like talking about my past.”

“I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand but she pulled hers away. “Look, okay. I admit it. I felt really uncomfortable after what you told me and I didn’t know how to react. But can you blame me for that?”

“Yes,” she stated, looking at him with a hard expression. “You have no right to judge me for something I did when I was eight years old. You don’t know my family, you don’t know the things I went through. I’m trying to leave all of that behind me.” Her voice cracked. “I told you that because I thought you would understand. Because you know what it’s like to grow up in a fucked up household.”

“Yes, I know what it’s like. But I never did stuff like that.”

“No, you didn’t. Because being a good person just comes naturally to you. But I’m not like you. When people hurt me, I hurt them back. That’s who I am, and I’m not proud of it. I try to be good but back then, I was so full of hate and anger… I didn’t even stop to think.” A stray tear fell down her cheek but she wiped it away quickly. “And, yes. I do regret it. That and a lot of other shit that I did. But it’s too late for that now. I can’t undo what I did, all I can do is accept it and try to learn something from it. And I’m not going to hide my past just because it makes you uncomfortable.”

Harry didn’t know what to say. Everything she said was like a blow to his stomach. He felt terrible.

“You know,” he started, breaking the silence. “I never did stuff like that but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to. I wish I could’ve done horrible things to Dudley, I was just more afraid of what he would do to me.”

She laughed cynically. “Yeah, my brother was easy to fuck with. He was small and lanky. Like you, actually.”

“You’re calling me small? Have you looked at yourself?”

“I know.” She sniffled. “I haven’t seen him in years, he must be taller than me by now.”

“I thought you said your parents kicked you out earlier this year.”

“Officially, yeah. But I had been living in a boarding school since I was like 12. I used to come home during the summer but… then they found out they could leave me there the entire year so…”

He put his arm around her tentatively, when she didn’t push him away, he squeezed her lightly. “They’re really missing out.”

Lyra scoffed.

“You’re a great person” he told her.

“Have you been listening to anything I just said?”

“Yes. A bad person wouldn’t regret doing bad things. They relish in it.” She looked down at her hands. “You’re not a bad person,” he continued. “you’re just a person who bad things have happened to.” 

Tears started falling into her hands. Harry pressed a kiss to the side of her head as she used his jacket to dry her face. 

“I’m very sorry about avoiding you. You’re right, I was acting like a coward.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

He laughed. “Why?”

“I can’t stay mad at you.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. 

“So you forgive me?”

She nodded and the two spent a moment just enjoying each other’s company. 

“Can I ask you something?” 

She sighed. “You can but I don’t guarantee an answer.”

“Why did you do it?”

She raised her head and looked at him. “Why did I do what?”

“Why did you kidnap your brother?”

She hesitated. “I guess…” she started fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. “I don’t know. I guess I was jealous of him.”

“Jealous of what?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He put his palms up. “I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer.”

She took deep breath. He could feel the tension on her shoulders. “It’s just so stupid, now that I think about it. It was all because of a chair.”

“A chair?”

“Yeah. There was a chair in my dad’s study at home where I would sit and read. It was like my own little corner. It had a bookshelf next to it where dad would put books just for me. I loved that chair.”

“What happened to it?”

“Nothing happened to it. One day I walked into the study and my brother was sitting on it. When I told him to get off, he said no so I grabbed him by his feet and tried to drag him off. Then my dad yelled at me and told me to leave him alone. I wasn’t allowed in there anymore after that and that just… Well, it made me very angry. So one night, I woke him up, took him to the study and I tied him to the chair. Dad found him the next morning.”

“Wow. All of that because of a chair.”

She sighed. “It was more than that, really. My brother was mom’s favorite, which sucked but I was okay with it because I was dad’s favorite. I spent most of my time with him when he was at home and that chair was very special to me. But dad started getting tired of me and spent more time with my brother. He barely even talked to me anymore. And seeing that little shit in my chair was the last straw for me. I just lost it.”

“Then it wasn’t really your fault.”

“Really?” she said sarcastically.

“Your dad made you compete with your brother for his attention, that’s fucked up.”

“Yeah but most parents do that anyway, they always have favorites.”

“No, they don’t.” She arched her eyebrows at him but he continued. “I may not have grown up with my parents but my best friend, Ron, he has six siblings and I’ve never seen them compete for attention.”

“Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”

Harry frowned at her but before he could answer, he started hearing people approaching. He looked back and saw Dudley and three other guys walking towards them menacingly. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he muttered as he stood up to confront them. “What do you want, Dudley?” 

“Mom sent me out to look for you.”

“Well, you found me. Now go back where you came from.”

“I don’t think so.” He stood a few feet from them with his friends behind him. “You did something to her, didn’t you?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“She’s never cared about you before, why is she so worried about you all the time?” 

“How the fuck should I know?”

“You know very well what I’m talking about.” Dudley took a few steps closer to him.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I know you talk to her about me behind my back, and I know you told her about the party.”

“So what if I did? Why should I keep your secrets?”

“I’m about to show you,” he said before gesturing to his friends. “Grab him.”

Harry didn’t even have time to react. Two of Dudley’s friends grabbed his arms. “Get off me!” he yelled as he struggled to free himself, but it was useless, they were much bigger and much stronger than him. 

“Let him go!” Lyra challenged.

“Take care of her,” Dudley said to the last guy.

“Don’t you dare touch he-” Harry was cut off by a punch in the mouth.

“That’ll teach you to close your mouth,” Dudley spat before punching him again, this time in the eye. Harry’s glasses flew off his face.

Harry was stunned by the pain, he could feel his lip already swelling up and his mouth tasted like metal. He could hear Lyra screaming but her voice was muffled and far away. One more blow to his face and Harry was on his knees. Dudley’s friends weren’t even holding him any more. Then he got kicked in the stomach, and all the air was sucked out of his lungs. 

Harry’s vision went dark. He could hear what was happening around him but everything was muffled like he was underwater. He gasped for air.

Suddenly, one of them screamed, followed by cursing. Harry looked up, his vision was starting to clear up and saw one of the guys clutching his upper arm while his sleeve was dripping with blood.

“She’s got a knife!”

There was more screaming and cursing and then they started fleeing. The only one left was Dudley, who stood his ground.

“You wouldn’t,” he dared.

“Try me,” Lyra growled.

Dudley lunged forward, but Lyra was quicker. A few swings later and Dudley was also running away. “I’m calling the police!”

“Go ahead and call them, motherfucker!” she shrieked. “You think that’ll scare me?!”

Harry was on the ground, about to pass out.

“Harry,” Lyra said, kneeling in front of him and holding his face up. “Are you okay, baby? Oh, god. Look at you!”

He groaned in response, feeling the inside of his lower lip with his tongue. “My teeth aren’t broken, so that’s good.” He managed to get on his knees.

She cleaned the blood off his face with what he realized was his jacket. “We need to get ice on your face. Can you stand up?”

“Yeah.”

She helped him up and then everything started moving around him. He grabbed onto her for support and the dizziness was gone after a few seconds. 

“Can you see my glasses?” he asked her.

“I don’t see them.”

“They have to be around somewhere.”

“I’m just as blind as you, I can’t find them.”

“Then put your glasses on.”

“I don’t have them with me.”

“Why not?”

“...I can’t find them.”

Harry burst out laughing, which made the pain on his stomach flare up. He clutched his midsection and groaned.

“Come on, let’s go home. You need to lay down.”

The way to Mrs. Figg’s house seemed eternal. The pain on his abdomen had subsided but his face was throbbing in a few places. 

“Arabella has some friends over so we’re going up to my room, okay?” she said as they walked through the front door. 

“Fine by me.” He could definitely hear people talking in the backyard, which surprised him, he didn’t think Mrs. Figg had friends. 

Lyra led him up the stairs and into her room. Once inside, she turned on the light and led him towards the bed. “Lie down.” 

He wasn’t used to being coddled like this but he was in too much pain to complain. He slid off his shoes and laid down on her bed, keeping his now soiled jacket on his face to not stain her bed sheets.

“I’m gonna get the first aid kit, okay?”

“Okay,” he said weakly and she went out the door.

This wasn’t exactly how he pictured being in Lyra’s room for the first time. In his mind, there was a lot less pain.  _ And a lot less clothes. _ But this was hardly the time to think about that. 

She was back very quickly, holding a familiar white box and an ice bag, and closed the door behind her. Then she knocked down everything that was on the nightstand and put the box there. 

“Hold this,” she said, pressing the ice bag to his mouth. Once he had a hold on it, she opened the box and started taking stuff out. She cleaned off the blood and sprayed something on his face that stung a bit. 

“Did you stab those guys?” he asked her.

“I didn’t stab them,” she replied. “Just cut them a little bit.” She reached down to her foot and lifted the leg of her jeans, revealing the hilt of a switch blade stuck in her shoe.

“Why do you have a knife in your shoe?”

“Just in case.”

“In case of what?”

She rolled her eyes. “In case I have to save my boyfriend from being beaten to death.”

“Fair point,” he muttered.

Once she was finished patching him up, he put the ice bag over the left side of his face, which was conveniently big enough to cover his mouth and his eye. “You would make a good nurse,” he told her.

She chuckled softly, but her smile vanished quickly.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she answered, but her voice betrayed her.

“You don’t sound fine.” 

She sighed while she was putting the stuff away. “I feel like this is all my fault.”

“How is it your fault?”

“You wouldn’t have been in the park if I hadn’t asked you to meet me there.”

“He would have beat me up anywhere. If you hadn’t been there, it would’ve been a lot worse.”

“You aren’t even supposed to be here. You were supposed to go to your friend’s house, remember? And you stayed for me.”

He propped himself up on his elbows and sat up, grunting because of the pain.

“What are you doing? Stay down!”

“I didn’t stay for you. I stayed because I wanted to. And getting beat up by Dudley is something I’m already used to.”

“This isn’t normal! You can’t just say ‘my cousin beats me up all the time’ like that makes it okay. It’s not. He showed up with three guys to make sure you wouldn’t get away.”

“Good thing you were there to save me.”

“You shouldn’t need saving, Harry.”

He went quiet. Looking down, he saw his hands and his clothes stained with blood. Suddenly, he was in pain again. It wasn’t his face, or his stomach. It was a pain he had forced down by lying to himself, pretending that he was fine with how the Dursleys treated him. He had to do that in order to survive. That’s how it’s been all his life, surviving. There was no peace for him anywhere.

Lyra took his hand. Their eyes met. She cupped his face in her hand, caressing his cheek. “You deserve so much more than this,”she said quietly.

He didn’t mean to, but tears welled up in his eyes. He looked down again, not wanting Lyra to see him crying. But she pulled him towards her, cradling his head. She ran her fingers through his hair and stroked his back. He buried his face in her neck and wrapped his arms around her, tightly. The ice bag fell from his hands, and Harry broke down in Lyra’s arms. 

Time seemed to have stopped in that room. There in her arms, he felt like nothing would happen to him. He could let all his defenses down. Even if he felt like he was falling apart, Lyra was holding onto him, she wouldn’t let him down. His face was sore, his wounds were hurting, but that was nothing compared to everything he’d been through. 

After a while, when Harry had no more tears left to cry, he released her. Feeling broken and embarrassed, he didn’t want to look at her. Instead he kept his head down as he wiped his tears away. Lyra lifted his face up in her hands and made him look at her. She gave him a comforting smile as she wiped away his tears and then kissed him so gently that it barely hurt at all when she made contact with his broken lip. 

He rested his forehead against hers. “I hope that isn’t your favorite shirt,” he said in a low voice. 

She looked at him with an arched eyebrow. “Why? You’re not going to rip it off of me, are you? Because this is hardly the time…”

“Actually I’m bleeding on it.”

“Oh.” She looked down at her blood-stained shirt and chuckled. “That’s okay.” She planted a kiss on his forehead. “You need to lie down,” she told him before getting up. She opened a drawer and pulled out a clean shirt, then proceeded to take off the one she was wearing.

Harry tried very hard not to stare, but he couldn’t help it. She had her back to him so he didn’t really see  _ anything.  _ But he did notice something in her waist. He didn’t have his glasses so he couldn’t make out what it was. It looked like a tattoo or maybe a birthmark. As soon as she turned around, he faced forward.

“I may have a shirt that fits you, so you can change out of that one,” she said as she shuffled through her drawers, eventually pulling out a white tshirt. She spread it out in front of her. “Yeah, I think this is about your size.” She gave him the shirt and picked up the box. “I’m gonna put this stuff back. Do you want ice cream? You could really use something cold right now.”

“Yes, please,” he answered, putting the ice bag back on his face.

She shot him a smile before going out of the room. 

He changed his shirt and leaned back into her bed with a warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach, and it had nothing to do with being punched. The shirt smelled just like her, now he understood why she kept his jacket. He glanced at the jacket, that was lying on the floor, covered in his blood. He tossed his shirt on top of it, both of them would probably have to be thrown out.

He looked around. Lyra’s room was very nice. There was a really sweet smell in the air, he didn’t know what it was but it put him at ease. The walls were a light shade of lilac and the furniture was white. There was a dresser with a lot of bottles on top of it and a mirror. Right in front of the bed was a small bookshelf with a television on top of it.

She came back a few minutes later and locked the door behind her. “Here,” she said, handing him a pint of strawberry ice cream and a spoon. “Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure.”

It was hard for him to eat at first, but the cold helped a lot with the pain and after a while, the pain had subsided by a lot. 

“Have you seen The Exorcist?” she asked.

“No.”

She turned to him. “It’s really scary.”

He scoffed. “I can handle scary.” His life was probably scarier than any movie she’d seen.

She inserted the tape in the VHS player and turned off the lights, then went to sit on the bed by his side. “Scoot.”

He slid to the side and Lyra snuggled close to him, wrapping her arm around his midsection and curling her leg around his. This was one of the things he liked most about her, how affectionate she was. She was always touching him in some way, holding hands, hugging, running her fingers through his hair. And she was so soft and always smelled so good. He never wanted to leave her side, he wanted to stay there, in her arms, where he was safe.

He didn’t really pay much attention to the movie, there was too much going on in his head and in his body. They finished the ice cream and his lip was a lot less swollen, but it still hurt. If it wasn’t for that, he would’ve been kissing Lyra the entire time. But he couldn’t complain, being there with her was good enough. He loved every second of it. It amused him how she would squeeze his arm whenever something scary was about to happen.

“Haven’t you seen this before?” he asked.

“Yeah, but it still scares me.”

He just laughed. It wasn’t that scary for him. What really did make his heart jump was when she rubbed her leg against his, and she did that plenty of times. With her head on his chest, she could probably tell he liked it. 

It was dark outside when the movie ended. Lyra sat up and looked out the window. “I should probably get you home.”

“I can walk.”

“I’m not letting you walk in the rain at night, you’ll get sick.” She got to her feet but he got a hold of her hand and pulled her towards him. “What?” she asked with a smile.

“Come here.”

When she sat on the bed again, facing him, he leaned in and kissed her. The pain on his lip was bearable at first, but when she kissed him back and the kiss escalated, it flared up and he had to pull away.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, worried.

He nodded.

She sighed. “I’m sorry.” She kissed his cheek. “Just take it easy, I’m sure you’ll feel better tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”

She smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Come on. I don’t mean to kick you out but I have to wake up early tomorrow.”

“It’s fine.”

It was a short drive, the Dursley home was only a few streets away. Lyra drove slowly, he figured it was because of the rain, but he noticed her looking around occasionally.

“What are you looking at?”

She smiled. “I saw a snowy owl around here a few nights ago. It’s weird, right? A snowy owl around here during the summer?”

Harry didn’t say anything.

“I don’t think it’ll come out in the rain, though,” she added.

_ No, it won’t come out because she’s in a cage in my room right now.  _ What would she think if he told her that? Normal people don’t have owls as pets. Then again, normal people don’t keep knives in their shoes. Maybe she won’t think it’s that weird. But he decided against it, that was a story for another day.

Lyra parked in front of number four. 

“Thank you,” he said to her.

“Don’t mention it, I wasn’t going to let you get wet.”

“No, I mean, thank you for defending me earlier. And for patching me up.”

She gave him a warm smile and squeezed his hand. “I know you would do the same for me.”

He nodded eagerly. “I would. I would stab anyone that so much as threatens you.”

“I didn’t stab them!”

He let out a laugh.

She laughed with him but her smile diminished. “You need to get out of here.”

“Well, fine. If you’re in such a hurry…” he said, taking off his seatbelt.

“I mean out of this house. Call your friend, you can’t stay here.”

“I don’t know if I’ll see you again.”

“Your safety is more important than that.”

“I’m leaving in September, I’ll be away for a whole year. I can handle a few more weeks here.”

She gave him a disapproving look but didn’t argue. “Just promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“If anything else happens… If they hurt you again, in any way, you’ll go.”

He didn’t answer. If it meant spending more time with her, he would take ten more beatings. But that was exactly her point. He couldn’t keep putting himself in danger because of her.

“Please,” she added.

He nodded. “I promise.”

She smiled at him and leaned in to kiss his forehead. “Go get some rest.”

“I will,” he said before getting out of the car.

Harry didn’t want to get up the next morning. Sitting up was impossible, his abdomen, chest, and arms were completely sore and every time he tried to move he would moan in pain. Eventually his bladder got the best of him and it took everything in his power to stand up. At least his legs were working properly.

When he was washing his hands, he took a good look at his face in the mirror and almost screamed in horror. The entire left side was completely covered in bruises. The outline of his teeth was visible under his bottom lip, which was split in two places. His eye socket was swollen, making his face look disfigured. He didn’t even try to brush his teeth knowing that his lip might start bleeding again. God, he hated Dudley so much. 

Going back to his room, he could hear voices coming from downstairs. He recognized the Dursleys, but there was another one he didn’t know. They sounded agitated. At this point, Harry didn’t care enough to eavesdrop, he just wanted to go back to sleep.

“Harry?”

Harry cursed under his breath. He didn’t tell his aunt about the beating thinking that by the morning his face would’ve gone back to normal, but he didn’t want her to see him like this. More importantly, he didn’t want strangers to see him like this. He wondered if he could just pretend he didn’t hear her and go on into his room.

“Harry, come down here. Please!”

_ Please?  _ Something was definitely going on.

“Why does he need to come down? I already told you what happened!” 

“I need to hear both sides.”

“I’m your son! You’re supposed to trust me, not him! You know he’s just going to defend her!”

That got his attention. If Dudley went to his parents to cry about what Lyra did of course he’s going to defend her. He walked down the stairs and saw who the Dursleys were talking to. There were two policemen in their living room. Harry couldn’t believe that after what happened Dudley had the audacity to call the police on Lyra. 

Harry’s presence was noticed first by his aunt, who gasped loudly and covered her mouth with both hands. Then all eyes were on him and silence filled the room. He really wished he had his glasses so he could see their faces more clearly.

“What happened to you?” Petunia asked, appalled.

“Ask your son,” he replied.

Her face turned to Dudley so fast he could swear he heard a crack. “You did this?” she shrieked.

“No! I told you he fell!”

The cops looked at each other and then one of them, a woman, stepped closer to Harry. “Son, can you answer some questions for us? Just so we can get a clear image of what happened yesterday.”

Harry shrugged. “Sure. I’ll tell you everything,” he said, looking at Dudley.

“He’s a liar!” Dudley yelled. “Don’t believe anything he says! He’s a filthy liar!”

“Calm down, kid,” said the policewoman in a sharp tone. “We heard your story, now I want to hear his.” She turned to Petunia. “I’d like to talk to the kid alone, if that’s okay with you.”

“No, that's not okay,” she replied. “I’m his guardian and I demand to be present.”

“Very well. The rest of you, give us the room, please.”

Harry knew for a fact that uncle Vernon hated to be told what to do in his own house, but he also knew that he wouldn’t defy the police. Even without glasses he could see his face changing colors.

After they were gone, the police woman sat on a chair and gestured to Harry to sit on the couch in front of them. He couldn’t help feeling nervous, the last thing he wanted was for Lyra to get in trouble for defending him.

“First thing’s first, I’m officer Jackson. My partner here is officer Winger.” Harry turned to the other officer who gave him a nod. “Just so you know, you’re not in any trouble. We just want to clarify the incident from yesterday. Is that okay?”

Harry nodded.

“Your name is Harry, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, Harry. Do you mind telling us what happened to your face?”

He was quiet for a moment, thinking of what this would mean for his cousin. He glanced at his aunt involuntarily and couldn’t help thinking about all the times he could’ve spoken up about the way they treated him. If only there had been someone who listened to him. He was so used to being mistreated that he never thought it possible that if the right people knew about it, things could change.

“I really would prefer to talk to the kid alone,” officer Jackson said to Petunia.

“I already said no,” Petunia answered.

“It’s okay,” Harry said. The cop probably thought he was afraid to talk in front of his aunt, but that wasn’t the case. He told them what happened, he could hear his aunt muttering something but he didn’t look at her. The officer listened to him while the other one took notes.

“Well, that’s a completely different story than the one your cousin told us.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“Did you see Miss Green attack these boys with a knife?”

“I didn’t see anything. I couldn’t see anything because my glasses were knocked off my head and I had just been punched in the eye.”

“So you didn’t see a knife?”

“No.”

“Well the other boys certainly did,” the other officer chimed in. “One of them ended up with sixteen stitches in his arm. And you’re saying there was no knife?”

“I’m not saying there was no knife, I’m saying I didn’t see it.”

“How convenient that you didn’t see your girlfriend attacking four boys with a knife.”

“Maybe I could’ve seen it if those four boys hadn’t beaten me to a pulp. What part of ‘I was punched in the face’ don’t you understand?”

“Harry!” Petunia warned.

“It’s okay,” Jackson said in a calm tone. “Settle down. I only have one more question.”

Harry took a deep breath and leaned back into the couch.

“Is this the first time you’ve been physically assaulted by a member of your family?”

He shook his head.

The officer gave him a solemn look and then nodded at the other officer. “That would be all, then. Thanks, Harry.” She got up and looked at Petunia. “Bring the other boy here, please.”

Petunia nodded and called for Dudley, who came into the room with his head down and his hands behind his back.

“Show me your hands, son,” Jackson ordered.

Dudley swallowed loudly and brought his hands forward, palms up.

“Turn them around.”

His hands were visibly shaking as they turned and revealed bruises on the knuckles in his right hand as well as a few small cuts that must’ve happened when he hit Harry’s teeth or his glasses.

The officers looked at each other. “Thank you for your time,” Jackson said to them before both of them went out the door.

Harry went after them. “Is she going to get in trouble?”

Officer Jackson turned to him. “You mean your girlfriend or your aunt?”

The question took Harry by surprise, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of his aunt getting in trouble. “My girlfriend.” This was not the time to feel giddy, but it was the first time he’s actually referred to Lyra as his girlfriend. Too bad it had to be while talking to the police.

“We’re going to interview her next, then we’ll decide.” Harry replied with a nod. “Anything else?”

“Is my aunt going to be in trouble?”

“Well, she is your legal guardian, it’s her job to watch after you. And it was her son who started all of this. She might.”

Harry sighed and then nodded.

Officer Jackson dug her hand in her pocket and stepped closer to Harry, handing him a card. “If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”

He took the card and just stood there motionless watching the police car drive away. The whole situation seemed unreal to him. He stuck the card in his pocket and went back inside. The Dursleys were fighting again in the living room. He rolled his eyes and made his way to the stairs but he was grabbed by the back of his neck and thrown against the wall.

“You,” uncle Vernon spat. “After all we’ve done for you, after we took you in and fed you, gave you a roof, you dare turn on us? How dare you rat out your own cousin to the police?!”

“I wasn’t the one who called the police!” Harry pushed his uncle’s hand away and wiped the spit from his face.

“We called the police because you and that  _ girl  _ are conspiring against this family! I should’ve known a newcomer in our neighborhood would bring trouble! She’s one of your kind isn’t she?”

“If by that you mean a wizard, no, she’s not. She’s a muggle, just like you. Only she actually has a brain.”

“She’s a danger to this community! Look at your cousin!”

Harry looked at Dudley but he didn’t see anything wrong with him. Then again, he could barely see him at all. “Are you fucking mad?! Look at me! He did this to me! If anyone is a menace to this community, it’s him and his friends!”

“Don’t you swear at me, boy. You’ll regret it,” Vernon growled. “My son has a right to enjoy his summer without you getting in his business all the time!”

“So he has a right to beat me up whenever he wants to? Is that what you’re saying? What about my right to enjoy my summer? I can’t even have a date in the park without him ruining my day!”

“He saved you from that girl! You should be grateful to him!”

“ _ What _ ?!” Harry turned to Dudley. “What the fuck did you tell them?”

Vernon grabbed Harry by the neck of his shirt. “What did I tell you about swearing?”

“That’s enough, Vernon!” Petunia’s voice shocked everyone in the room.

Vernon turned to her. “What did you just say?”

“I said that’s enough! Let him go.”

“You’re going to defend this little fiend?”

“Oh, Vernon. Look at him! Do you really think a fall can do that to his face?”

“Are you saying I’m a liar?” Dudley cried.

“It wouldn’t be the first time!”

“Why are you taking his side over mine?”

“I’ve always taken your side and you always take advantage of that to get away with everything! If you didn’t punch Harry, why is your hand full of bruises?”

“I told you I was mad so I punched a tree!”

Petunia threw her hands up in frustration which only made Dudley more upset.

“Why don’t you believe me? Are you going to listen to this big idiot or are you going to listen to me?”

Petunia looked at her son, then at Harry, then at Vernon. She looked like a pipe bomb about to explode. “Let Harry go,” she demanded, but Vernon tightened his grip. Harry tried to push his hand off but he had no strength in his arms.

“Your son asked you a question, Petunia,” Vernon warned.

Her nostrils flared. “I believe what I see. And what I see, is Harry’s the one telling the truth.”

“You’re going to believe  _ him _ ?” Vernon screamed. “You’re going to pick him over your own son?!”

“Let him go!”

“Fine!” Vernon pushed Harry onto the floor in front of her. “Come on, Dudley.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to talk to the other boys’ parents and we’re getting to the bottom of this!” he yelled before exiting the house with Dudley and slamming the door behind them.

Harry struggled to stand up. Tears started to form in his eyes, both from the pain and the humiliation. He remembered his promise to Lyra, he knew it wouldn’t be long before he got hurt again, but this was ridiculous.

Petunia grabbed his arm to try to help him stand but it only made him yelp in pain. She released him quickly. He sat on the floor, his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath and hold back his tears. His aunt knelt in front of him. “Let me see,” she said quietly. 

He stared at her with arched eyebrows. Even that hurt.

“Please,” she added.

“What’s gotten into you? All of the sudden you start caring about me?”

“I’ve always cared about you,” she said, offended.

“Well, you have a very peculiar way of showing it.”

She clenched her jaw. “Just let me see.”

He hesitated for a moment, then he lifted his shirt. His arms gave out and he couldn’t take it all the way off so she helped him pull it over his head.

She gasped softly. He looked down at his abdomen which had almost all the colors of the rainbow. His arms were bruised where the others grabbed him. He had never been so beat up, not even when the Whomping Willow got him.

Petunia helped him put his shirt back on. “Let’s get you up,” she said, throwing his arm over her shoulder to support his weight. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, my legs are fine.”

“Good. Go get dressed.”

“Why?”

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” she said slowly, like she was speaking a foreign language.


	14. Drive

Awkward. If any word could describe that car ride, it was awkward. Harry had been silent since he sat down, with one arm across his chest and the other holding a cold compress to his face. His jaw was clenched so tightly he could almost hear his teeth grinding. 

“Does it hurt?” Petunia asked.

“What do you think?” he answered coldly. Her sudden concern with his well being did not impress him.

“Would you stop being such a brat? I’m trying to help.”

He rolled his eyes. “I know why you’re doing this.”

“And why is that?”

“You’re scared that certain people are noticing what a great ‘guardian’ you are,” he said, making quotation marks with his free hand.

Petunia pursed her lips. “I don’t know what that officer said to you but I assure you it has nothing to do with this.”

“You want to know what she told me? She gave me her card and told me to call if I ever needed to. Do you think she says that to all the kids she sees?”

“I’m trying my best, okay? You should be a little bit more grateful.”

“Grateful? Of what? You never tried your best, you’ve just done the bare minimum.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Start by treating me like a fucking human being!”

“What does it look like I’m doing?!”

“You think that taking me to the hospital after  _ your son _ broke my face is going to make me pretend like the last fifteen years didn’t happen?”

“So, what do you want me to do? Keep ignoring you and let your face be disfigured?”

“I want you to at least admit that this is your fault. And, I don’t know, maybe apologize? That would be nice.”

“What good will that do?”

“Show that you have at least some amount of regret.”

“Some amount? My entire life is full of regret! I’m very aware of my mistakes, I don’t need you to remind me of them. Kids don’t come with instruction manuals. You try your best not to make the same mistakes your parents did and then you make some new ones. Then your kids have kids and the cycle repeats.”

“So exactly what mistakes were you trying to fix with me? The times when you were treated with love and respect?”

“I was trying to protect my son.”

“From what? From me? I’m the one that needs protection from him!”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

“What? That you see me as a threat to your precious family? That the reason you didn’t want me to go to Hogwarts was so I wouldn’t take revenge on you? Cause I understand that very well.”

“No, you don’t! You will never understand because you, like your mother, were born with a gift. So you don’t know what it’s like for the people around you.”

Harry blinked once. “You were jealous of my mother, weren’t you?”

Petunia didn’t answer, she just clenched her jaw.

“You were jealous of her! And you treat me like shit because I remind you of her!”

“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Harry. Your world, maybe. But for us, life goes on. We have to accept the life we have and make the most of it.”

“What does that even mean?”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “It means… I don’t hate you because of what you are. I just… If my son had to grow up by your side, just like I grew up with Lily… I couldn’t let him feel how I felt. I had to find a way to make him feel good about his life so that he wouldn’t be jealous of you.”

“Well, you did an amazing job. I would be clapping if I wasn’t holding ice to my broken face.”

“Enough with the sarcasm.”

“I think I have the right to be as sarcastic as I want, given the circumstances,” he spat. “I mean, do you hear yourself? You’re making it sound like being abused was my fault all along! I didn’t ask to be a wizard, I didn’t ask to have my parents murdered, and I certainly didn’t ask to be dropped off at your doorstep! All I asked for was a home where I felt safe and you couldn’t even give me that!”

“You are safe in our home! That was the whole point of having you living with us!”

“Does this look ‘safe’ to you!” he yelled, pointing at his face. Petunia glanced at him but didn’t say anything. “You can cry all you want about how miserable you were growing up but that will never justify what you and your precious, normal family have put me through for the last fifteen years.”

“I know it doesn’t!” she yelled back. “But forgive me for wanting to make my son feel special while you were being loved by everyone in your world.”

“I don’t need to be loved by everyone in my world, I needed to be loved by you! And I still do!” Harry’s voice cracked. “Sirius was there for me for the two years that I knew him more than you were all my life. A man who was basically a stranger to me, showed me more love and kindness than you ever did. Now he’s dead, and I’m stuck with you again!”

There was a moment of silence between them in which Harry kept holding his breath to avoid crying. He’d been holding on to those words for so long, now that he said them he felt like the weight of the sky had just been lifted off his shoulders.

Petunia was the first to speak. “I am sorry about your godfather.”

Harry scoffed. “I bet you are.”

She sighed. “I’m going to give you the rest of the day to get every ounce of hate out of your system, but tomorrow we’re going to sit down and talk. All of us. And I expect you to be on your best behavior. Understand?”

He wondered what exactly would be accomplished by talking to the Dursleys. Like he hadn’t tried to talk before only to be ignored, why would this time be any different? 

“Harry?”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He could’ve sworn he heard Petunia let out a light chuckle but he couldn’t be sure. They didn’t talk for the rest of the way.


	15. Lyra

The longer Lyra stared at the clock, the slower time seemed to pass. The minute before clocking out was always the longest minute of the day. She and her favorite coworker, Marlene, stood the with their time cards in hand ready to go on their lunch break, and the clock refused to move.

“Come on,” she muttered. 

Then, it happened. The girls punched their cards and put them back before heading into the employee lounge to get their things.

“Green!”

Lyra stopped and threw her head back, letting out a groan. “What?” she said, turning around to see her boss standing in the doorway to his office. He replied by gesturing with his thumb for her to come in. 

“Can you get my stuff?” she asked Marlene.

“Sure, I’ll wait for you outside.”

“Thanks.”

She entered the office with a sour expression and closed the door behind her. Her boss was waiting for her on his desk.

“Sit.”

She took a seat opposite to him.

“Do you know why I’m calling you in here?” 

“I assume it’s to give me a raise for the fantastic work I’m doing?”

“Don’t sass me,” he warned before pulling out a stack of papers.“You have five customer complaints this week. ‘Asked server for more salt, was told they were out, when I asked her if she could check, she said no.’”

She shrugged. “We were out of salt.”

“I doubt that’s true.”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“The point isn’t whether there was salt or not, you’re supposed to serve the customer, and if they ask you to check, you go check.”

“I had other tables, I don’t have time to go around pandering a single customer.”

“Most of customer service is pandering.” He pulled another paper. “‘Told the server the coffee was too hot, she told me to blow on it’”

“What, so I was supposed to blow on it myself? That’s unsanitary.”

“You could’ve offered to make them a new one.”

“Last week you spent two hours lecturing us about how much we’re wasting! You’re saying I should throw away a perfectly good coffee just because it’s too hot?”

“You need to make the customer feel like they’re important.”

“Sounds to me more like you want me to treat them like they’re two-year-olds.”

Her boss shot her a glare before reading from another paper. “‘Server was flirting with my husband.’”

“Didn’t you just say I have to make my customers feel important?”

“All of them, not just the male ones.”

“They’re the ones paying and I need good tips.”

“The other two were from the same table saying you spilled soda on them.”

“That was an accident!”

“Look, Lyra,” he said, stacking the papers. “I hired you because I saw potential in you. And you’ve been a decent employee so far but I can’t overlook these. I’m going to have to give you a warning.”

“Oh no!,” she said sarcastically. 

He glared at her again. “Do you even want to work here?”

“No, I don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “But neither do you and yet here we are.”

“I’m here because I want to grow in the industry.”

“Are you sure it’s not because your wife is the owner’s daughter?”

“We’re not discussing my involvement in this company, we’re discussing yours. Do you even have any long-term goals?”

“My biggest goal in life is to marry a rich guy and never have to work a day in my life. Just like my mother did.”

“No man is going to want you with that snarky attitude.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Just a man’s opinion.”

“Well, no woman wants a man that sleeps with his employees.”

The man looked at her with wide eyes. Seeing his face go white made her smirk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She gave him a light shrug. “Just a woman’s opinion.”

He leaned in. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but you better keep your mouth shut. None of that is true.”

“You know I’m not one for gossip, if it means I get to keep my job.” She could see a vein pulsating in his forehead. 

“Fine,” he said. “I’m not writing you off but don’t think you can get away with everything.”

“Are we done here?”

He let out a deep breath. “Yes, you can go.”

She walked out of his office with a huge grin and went straight for the door. As promised, Marlene was waiting for her. “Everything okay?” she asked as she handed Lyra her purse and her food.

“Yeah, nothing important. Just a few customer complaints.”

“That sounds important.”

“Whatever, I don’t care.”

“You should care at least a little,” Marlene warned. “I don’t want you to get fired!”

“Relax, I’m not getting fired. Trust me.”

The two girls got in Lyra’s car and went to their usual spot in the farthest point of the parking lot where they were out of reach from the security cameras while Marlene lit a blunt. 

It was a normal lunch break for them, but it was also like a therapy session. They talked about everything. In the few months that they’ve known each other, Lyra had grown very attached to her. Marlene didn’t judge. Even after telling her about her family and all the horrible things she did as a child, Marlene saw her good side and she always looked out for her. She knew that she could tell her everything and that was very comforting.

Except for that one little tiny thing that she had to take to her grave.

“And then she and mom started screaming at each other so I had to intervene, and after that I was so upset I couldn’t even finish my Astronomy homework. I’m pretty sure I’m going to fail that class in the end.”

“You’re not going to fail,” Lyra told her as she passed her the blunt. “Your sister needs to get her shit together. She has to realize how much harm she’s doing to you  _ and  _ your mom.”

“I think she knows, she just doesn’t care,” she said, tapping off the ash. “I need to move out, at least until I finish school.”

“You’ll feel a lot better. Having my own place is the best thing that’s happened to me.”

“Don’t you live with an old lady?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t get in my business. And she’s really sweet. She’s teaching me how to cook.”

“You don’t know how to cook?”

“Do I look like I’ve ever cooked a meal in my life?”

Marlene laughed and shook her head. “Being rich sounds great.”

“It is.” She took a hit from the blunt and looked out the window as she exhaled.

“Are you okay?”

Lyra sighed. “I don’t know.” The weed was already taking effect, she felt light and relaxed, but she wasn’t happy. “Have you ever felt like there’s so much going on in your life but at the same time… there’s nothing? Does that make sense?”

Marlene nodded. “I totally get it.”

“I just… I feel like there’s something missing from my life, something huge, and I don’t know what it is… but I’m too tired to try to look for it.”

Marlene gave her hand a squeeze. “Go easy on yourself. You have time to figure things out. After what you went through, anyone would be exhausted.”

“I don’t want to keep using that as an excuse to stay still. There’s so many things I could be doing and I’m still caught up in my family’s issues.”

“Lyra…” Marlene took the last hit of the blunt before putting it out. “You need to give yourself time to recover from that. You might think you’re over it, but you’re not.”

“Shut up. What do you know?”

Marlene laughed and Lyra joined in, at first starting as a light giggle that then turned into full-hearted cackling. “So… You haven’t talked about Harry in a while. Is everything okay?”

Lyra’s smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown. “Well, you know how the universe refuses to let me be happy.”

“Oh, no. What happened?”

“I don’t even know where to start. His family is crazy abusive and he had the chance to go to his friend’s house for the summer and decided to stay for me.”

“But isn’t that kind of romantic?”

“No! It’s stupid! Yesterday his cousin beat the shit out of him just because. And he still doesn’t want to leave.”

“Do you want him to leave?”

“Of course I don’t, but I also don’t want him to suffer because of me.”

“I’m really sorry, baby. I know you really like him.”

She groaned, leaning her head back into the seat. “He’s so cute, Marlene! Everything about him is just so amazing. He has the most amazing green eyes I’ve ever seen. And he has dimples! Dimples, Marlene!”

“Okay, I get it.”

Lyra sighed. “I think this is the first time I’ve actually wanted to be with a boy who’s into me and he has to go away.”

“Maybe you can make it work long distance.”

“I don’t know if it’s worth it, though.” 

“Well, I know this,” Marlene said, wrapping her arm around Lyra’s shoulders. “You’re gonna be okay.”

Lyra leaned into her chest. “Thanks, babe. Your boobs always make me feel better.” They share a laugh. “Oh, I forgot to mention that I pulled a knife on Harry’s cousin and his friends so I might get in trouble for that.”

“Lyra!”

“What was I supposed to do?” she complained, lifting her head. “They were going to kill him.”

Marlene shot her a disapproving look before her wristwatch started beeping. “It’s time to go,” she said, glancing at it.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad. I’m just worried. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Hopefully nothing will happen. I mean, no one was seriously hurt. Except for Harry. His face was all messed up.”

The girls sprayed themselves with perfume before getting out of the car. They went back inside and put their things in their lockers before clocking back in and getting to work.

Lyra was used to working while high, it made the whole thing more bearable. She didn’t even care if the customers noticed or not, her boss didn’t care as long as she didn’t make any big mistakes.

Halfway through her shift, the hostess approached Lyra while she was in the kitchen. “Hey, there’s a woman out there looking for you.”

Lyra frowned. “Who?”

The hostess shrugged. “I don’t know, but it seemed urgent.”

She sighed. One of the little bastards must’ve called the police after all. Lyra took a few deep breaths to try to calm her nerves. She went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face, it was not a good idea to talk to a police officer while high. Thankfully, her eyes weren’t as red as she thought they’d be. After drying her face, she went to the front of the restaurant, but she didn’t see any police. There was a woman with the same blonde hair as her, and the same pale skin, and the same blue eyes. Lyra’s heart started pounding and her hands started shaking.

“Mother.”

The woman smiled at Lyra, her eyes glossy with tears. 

Two more customers entered the restaurant. Finding herself on the way, Lyra gestured to her mother to follow her and the two went into the parking lot.

“Why are you here?” Lyra demanded.

“Is that really the way to greet your mother?”

“Legally, you’re not my mother anymore so I don’t see the reason why you should be here,” she spat. “How did you find me, anyway?”

“I have my ways.”

“Of course. So what do you want?”

The woman took a deep breath. “I need you to come back home.”

Lyra laughed cynically. “You cannot be serious.”

“A lot of things have happened in the last few months and I don’t think it’s good for us to be separated.”

“So you want me back because it’s no longer convenient to keep me out?”

“Lyra, please…”

“No! You and father threw me out like garbage! What makes you think I’m just going to leave the life I made for myself to go back to you?!”

Her mother closed her eyes and sighed. “Your father is in prison.”

Lyra felt a bucket of cold water fall on her head. “What?”

She nodded. “He was arrested a few weeks ago. Sentenced to life.”

Suddenly, Lyra found it hard to breathe. “Why?”

“I can’t talk about that here. I just need you to come back. You and your brother are in danger and I need to make sure you’re safe.”

“I don’t need your protection.”

“You don’t know what we’re up against!”

“Who’s we? I don’t belong with you, I don’t belong in your world.”

“Yes you do! You think I wanted to send you away? We had to do it to protect you.”

“No, you did it to protect yourself! Because you couldn’t bear the shame of having a Squib for a daughter!” Lyra was fuming, her heart was doing a thousand beats per minute. “I don’t need you or your pity. I have a life now and it is so much better than anything you’ve ever given me.”

“I don’t want to take that away from you, but these are dark times. We need to stay together as a family.”

“You decided long ago that I wasn’t part of this family,” Lyra stated. “I’m never going back, and that’s final.” With that, Lyra turned on her heels and headed back to the restaurant.

“Lyra!”

She didn’t want to, but there was something about her mother calling her that made her turn around instinctively. 

“I’m not going to force you to come with me. You’re an adult and you can make your own choices, but I’m begging you to please listen to me. Please.”

Lyra couldn’t stand to hear her mother beg. A woman who always carried herself with such poise and dignity, was one step closer to drop down on her knees. If that happened, she didn’t know if she could take it, so she nodded at her to continue.

“I know that I made mistakes, I would take them all back if I could. I let my prejudices get in the way of my love for you and for that, I am sorry.” Both mother and daughter were struggling to hold back their tears. “If you can’t forgive me, or if you just don’t want to, I understand, but I’m never going to stop being your mother. You will always be a part of this family, you will always be a Malfoy.”

“I would rather be a nobody.”

“In your eyes, you could be, but in the eyes of the enemy, you’re not. And in this war, we have enemies on both sides. My job is to protect you and your brother, and he’s slipping away from me and following in your father’s footsteps. This isn’t about me, I’m just trying to protect you.”

Lyra didn’t answer. She stood there with her jaw clenched and her arms crossed, looking at everything except her mother. There were so many thoughts going through her head at once. She had never regretted smoking a blunt as much as she did at that moment. There were a million things she wanted to say, but her anxiety and her stubbornness were preventing her from doing so. 

“If you don’t want to come with me, that’s fine, but I’m going to be checking in on you once in a while.”

“You better not!”

“Goodbye, Lyra.”

“You can’t-” Before she could finish, her mother disappeared right before her eyes. Lyra let out a bloodcurdling scream full of pure rage, making the birds on a nearby tree fly away.


	16. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for making it this far. I have put my entire soul into this fanfiction. These past few months have been hard for everyone and I'm glad I could share this with you.   
> As you may have noticed, I changed the rating from Mature to Explicit because of the sexual content in this chapter. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to write that scene but it kind of wrote itself.   
> I wanted to share a couple of things with you too. First: the official ship name for Lyra and Harry is Larry. Second: I know you probably didn't notice but there are several Spongebob quotes throughout the fanfiction except for this chapter. Third: I made a Lyra playlist on spotify, I use it for inspiration. Here's the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2h7ZvWnNsSmZxbgac4QzbZ?si=cPoTmMPDSxSdy6UEBvY60w  
> You also may have noticed that it says chapter 16 of 17 and yes, that means the next chapter is going to be the last one. Then I'll be moving on to Part 2!! So stay tuned.  
> Thank you so much for reading!  
> TL;DR: Explicit sexual content ahead

It was pitch black outside when Harry woke up because of the flaring pain on his face. Fractured cheekbone, that’s what the doctor said before sending him home with painkillers and antibiotics. He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep for but the pain told him it was time for his medicine. Getting up was a bit of a challenge, it took awhile for the dizziness to go away, but he finally managed to go down to the kitchen hoping his aunt had left his pills there. 

He didn’t expect to find anyone awake, but the lights in the kitchen were on. He walked in to find his aunt there, her head resting on her arms on the kitchen table, in front of her, a glass and two empty wine bottles. 

This had never happened before, Harry wasn’t sure what to do. He considered just leaving her there, but he didn’t know where his medicine was so he had no choice but to wake her up. He approached her and carefully shook her shoulder.

“Aunt Petunia?”

She gasped as her head shot up and looked around until her eyes found him. “Oh, Harry. It’s just you…” she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

“Yeah, just me,” he said awkwardly. “Are you okay?”

“Just fine,” she answered with a cracked voice.

“Did you drink those two bottles by yourself?”

“One of them was already open.”

He nodded. “Great.”

A moment of silence passed before Petunia spoke again. “Is there anything you need?” she asked with her usual irritated tone.

“Yes, my painkillers.”

“Oh, right. They’re in my purse.” She got to her feet and wobbled into the kitchen where her purse sat on the counter. After rummaging inside, she pulled out two pill bottles. “You should take them at the same time so you don’t forget, they’re both important.”

“Got it.”

She gave him the bottles and stared blankly for a few seconds. “Let me get you some water.”

“I can get it myself.”

She muttered something that sounded like “Shut up.” and went to the cabinet to take a glass but it slipped through her fingers and shattered into a million pieces all over the kitchen floor. 

“Oh no!” she gasped. “I’m sorry!”

Harry watched as she bent down to pick up the pieces and immediately grabbed her arm to stop her. “Don’t do that! You’ll hurt yourself.” 

Petunia yanked her hand away. “You think I don’t know what I’m doing?”

“I think you’re very drunk and you will slice your hand open so just let me do it,” he spat. “I’ll go get a broom.” He went to the cupboard, which gave him a deja vu from the night of the party when Dudley’s friends had broken the punch bowl. When he came back to the kitchen, Petunia was sobbing uncontrollably while holding on to the counter.

_ What now?  _ Harry didn’t want to be that asshole but he was getting annoyed at his aunt crying all the time. He was the one suffering every single second he spent in that house. She had no right to be sad.

He swept away the broken glass before getting water in a plastic cup and taking his pills. He looked at the mess that was his aunt and considered ignoring her and going back to his room but his righteousness got the best of him. “Are you okay?”

Petunia scoffed. “Do I look like I’m okay?” Harry didn’t answer. After a moment of silence, she said, “Vernon left. He’s staying with his sister. And he took Dudley with him.” The last part came out as a barely audible whimper. “I’m a horrible mother,” she gasped between sobs. 

Harry froze, this was officially too much for him to handle.

The next morning, the awkwardness between them was almost tangible. They had breakfast in silence, not looking at each other. When she finally spoke, it almost startled him.

“Get dressed when you’re finished. I’m taking you to the optometrist to get new glasses.”

He looked at her, surprised. “Really?”

“Unless you enjoy not being able to see,” she said coldly, still not looking at him.

“I definitely enjoy seeing.”

“Then go get dressed.” She stood up and put the dishes in the sink.

After his appointment, he went straight to bed, even though the sun was still out. The painkillers knocked him right out. His aunt would wake him up so he could take the antibiotics and eat something and then he would go back to sleep immediately. That went on for a couple of days. 

One morning, Petunia said that she was going out of the house for the day and set his alarm clock so he would know when to take the next pill. She may have said something else but Harry didn’t register it.

The alarm went off at 5pm. His head felt fifty pounds heavier. It took him a while to get up, having spent the last few days in bed. When he managed to get to his feet, he had to wait a bit until he could move. He realized he really needed to go to the bathroom and he also really needed a shower. Who knew sleeping could make you stink so much?

He looked in the mirror after showering and saw that his face was almost back to normal. The only reminder of his beating was a slight green shadow around his cheekbone and his mouth. He poked it carefully and saw that there was almost no pain, but that might have been because of the painkillers. He just wished they wouldn’t put him to sleep.

He heard his bedroom door open which meant Petunia had returned and was bringing him his next dose. He went back to his room with a towel around his waist, but the person in his room wasn’t his aunt, it was...

“Lyra!”

The blonde girl turned to him and her lips curled into a smirk as soon as she saw him. 

He was so glad he decided to wear the towel. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his face burning.

“Taking care of you?” she said like it was obvious as she put down his pill bottles. 

Harry stared blankly at her. “Does my aunt know that you’re here?”

“Yes,” she simply said before kissing his cheek. “I’m gonna let you get dressed,” she said before smacking his butt and walking out the room, leaving Harry with a very red face and a huge smile.

Lyra returned a few minutes later, once Harry was fully clothed, holding a bowl of pudding. Without even thinking about it, Harry took her face in his hands and kissed her. She let out a little yelp in surprise but melted into him almost immediately, wrapping her free arm around his back. “Did you miss me?” she asked once they broke apart.

He nodded, burying his face in her neck. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Me too, but you’re gonna make me drop my pudding.”

“Sorry,” he said as he pulled back.

Lyra smiled and pinched his cheek, then they both went to sit on the bed. “This is the best vanilla pudding I’ve ever had.”

“Where did you get that?”

“There’s a giant bowl full of it in the fridge. I’m guessing your aunt made it.”

“Oh, yeah. She usually makes it for Dudley and he eats the whole thing in one sitting. I don’t know why she made it, though. Dudley’s not here.”

“Where is he?”

“Um, he and my uncle left a few days ago.”

“He left your aunt?”

“Yeah, I don’t know all the details, but they left a few days ago and they haven’t returned. I don’t know if they ever will.”

Lyra was shocked. “Fuck… Do you think it was because of the fight?”

“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care. The less people in this house, the better.”

She let out a light chuckle. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Great. It barely hurts anymore.”

“I’m really glad. I was worried your face would be permanently fucked up.”

He chuckled. “I’ve had worse.”

She lifted her eyebrows in disbelief. “You have?”

“Oh, you have no idea,” he said, remembering the time he had to regrow all the bones in his arm.

“I wanna hear that story.”

_ Fuck.  _ “I’ll tell you some other time.”

A sound coming from across the room caught his ear. It was subtle but he knew it perfectly. Hedwig was stirring. He glanced at the clock, it was still early evening, meaning he had an hour or two before she started banging at her cage demanding to be let out. Luckily, Lyra didn’t seem to notice. 

“So, what’s been going on with you?” he asked her.

She shrugged. “The usual. Working my tits off, scooping cat shit, since you’ve been out of commission I’ve had to do it myself”

“Sounds like a nightmare.”

“It is. But, you know, I don’t mind doing it. Arabella has done so much for me, I would scoop all the cat shit in the world for her.”

“That’s so sweet of you.”

“I know, I’m adorable.”

He laughed. “Did you get in trouble with the police?”

“No. They actually never contacted me.”

“Really? I thought they were going to interrogate you.”

“Well, I’m sitting in front of you instead of in a prison cell so, what do you think?”

“That you’re a fugitive?”

She snorted a laugh. “That does sound like me.” 

“It’s kinda weird seeing you here.”

“I’ve been to your room before.”

“Oh yeah, the night of the party.”

She nodded. “That night was fun.”

“That night was a shit show.”

“I know, that’s what I said.”

He laughed and shook his head. “The only good thing about that night is the dress you were wearing.”

She smirked. “You couldn't take your eyes off me.”

“You looked amazing.”

“I’m glad you liked it. Although that dress would’ve looked a lot better on this floor.”

Harry blinked. “What did you say?”

“You heard me,” she said before putting the spoon in her mouth.

Harry stared at her, his heartbeat intensifying. “You have pudding on your face.”

“Where?”

He reached over and wiped the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

“Did you get it?”

He nodded before leaning towards her and kissing her on the lips. She kissed him back, softly at first, but not two seconds later he took the bowl from her hand and managed to put it on the desk without looking. Her hands moved to his neck, pulling him closer, and before he knew it, she fell back onto the pillow with him on top of her.

Everything around him dissolved. He kissed her deeply, like he wanted to kiss her since he met her. Their mouths moved in sync, only stopping when she caught his lower lip between her teeth.

He took a sharp breath and opened his eyes to meet hers. Her face was completely flushed, he realized that his must be too.

“Kiss my neck,” she whispered, one hand venturing inside his shirt over his back.

He brushed her hair out of the way as she tilted her head to the side and pressed his lips lightly right under her jaw, making her let out a soft sigh. He did it again, and again, until her chest was pressed against his with every breath she took. Then he did it harder, his tongue lightly brushing her skin before his lips and a soft moan escaped her lips.

A shiver went down his spine as that beautiful sound filled his ears. He did it again, going down to her collarbone, then back up, her moans were almost too much to bear. He went back to her lips and gave her a long and deep kiss.

Moments later, they broke apart, both out of breath.

“What do you want to do?” she asked him, her finger tracing small circles on his back.

He gave her a small grin. “What do  _ you  _ want to do?”

She gave him a one shoulder shrug. “I have a condom in my pocket.”

A heat wave went through his entire body. “My aunt could come back any moment.”

“That makes it more exciting, don’t you think?” she said, running her fingers through his hair.

He tried to think about it, but all the blood in his body was concentrated in one specific area and it wasn’t his brain. They were alone in his room, he was on top of her and her hands were all over him, there wasn’t much room for thinking. He dove into her mouth, kissing her deeply. 

She responded by wrapping her arms tightly around him, grabbing handfuls of his shirt. Everything around him was intoxicating, her hands on his back, the way she smelled, his tongue in her mouth, her breasts pressed against his chest. It was like no matter how close they were, it wasn’t close enough. He rolled his hips forward, grinding into her. She moaned into his lips and grabbed his ass with both hands, encouraging him. He kept his movements slow but steady and could feel her matching his speed. Then, in one swift movement, she pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it away.

“Switch,” she said.

He didn’t object, his body responded immediately. Next thing he knew, he was laying on his back, her hands on his chest, pinning him down. She kissed him, then her lips moved down to his neck. A groan formed in his throat when she ran her tongue over his Adam’s apple, his hands moved to her thighs and squeezed them, pressing her body to his. 

_ This isn’t a dream, right?  _ He wasn’t so sure, it definitely felt like one when she caught his ear lobe between her teeth causing him to inhale sharply. She kept fumbling with his ear, making more ungodly sounds come out of him, the worst one happened when she stuck her tongue into his ear canal while her hips were grinding against his. His hands moved all over her body, the amount of clothes she was still wearing was starting to annoy him. The only thing he wanted her to be wearing right now was his jacket, then he remembered he ruined it last time by using it to clean the blood off his face.

She sat up, making him groan in protest, and looked at him with that villainous smirk that always drove him crazy. “You okay there, lobster?” she purred while circling her hips in the slightest way.

He chuckled at the nickname he almost forgot she made for him before the sensation made him close his eyes, his chest rising and falling with each movement. “Never been better.”

Her hands kept moving up and down his chest, until she dug her nails into his skin and dragged them down slowly. He let out a grunt and, when he opened his eyes, she was looking at him with hungry eyes, biting her lip. 

He sat up and put a hand on the back of her head to bring her closer into a deep, angry kiss. She placed her hand on top of his and closed it into a fist.

“Pull my hair,” she murmured, and then gasped when he did.

He latched into her exposed neck, sucking and biting every inch of skin from her jaw to her collarbone. His free hand found its way inside her shirt and grabbed her breast. He let go of her hair to take off her shirt, leaving her only in her bra. His mouth moved down to her cleavage, his hands bringing her breasts together with his face in the middle. Then her bra came off, and her breasts stared back at him in their full splendor. He kissed them, he fondled them, he bit them while she moaned and grabbed onto his hair in response.

Then she suddenly pushed him off and he fell back into the pillow. She took a hair tie from her wrist and pulled up her hair into a ponytail. “Are you ready for this, Potter?”

He grinned. “I’ve been ready for this since I met you.”

She returned his grin and moved back a little bit, just enough to get off of his very hard and very noticeable erection. “Have you ever had sex before?” she asked while lightly running her fingers over his pants along the length of his penis. 

He shook his head.

Her grin got wider. “You mean I’m the first person to do this?” She grabbed his bulge and gave it a squeeze.

His body went rigid. “Yes,” he replied with a strangled voice. 

“Good.” She pulled down his pants along with his underwear, letting his hard cock out of its enclosure. She took it in her hands and started stroking it very slowly and gently but with confidence. She licked her fingers and used them to rub the sensitive spot under the head while her other hand was moving up and down along the shaft.

“Fuck,” he muttered, trying his best to hold himself together while her hands were sending him spiraling into madness. The way she touched him told him she knew what she was doing. He wondered how many times she’d done this before but quickly brushed it off. He didn’t care as long as she used her experience on him. 

She moved back a little bit more and bent forward, taking the head of his cock in her mouth. 

Harry closed his eyes and threw his head back into the pillow. More curses escaped him as Lyra took more and more of him in her mouth. He balled up his fist, grabbing handfuls of fabric until his knuckles turned white, more involuntary noises coming out of him.

He looked down, seeing her pretty face with his cock in her mouth completely ruined his mind. She looked up at him with her big blue eyes while licking his cock from shaft to head and then gave him one of her infamous smirks. He would’ve professed his undying love for here right then and there if his mind had allowed him to form a coherent sentence. Instead, he grabbed her ponytail and pushed her head down. 

That seemed to encourage her, her rhythm got faster and she started sucking harder. He pushed and pulled her by the hair while also thrusting his hips forward everytime she came down. She seemed to be enjoying it, everytime she stopped for air she would give him a grin while her hand continued working on him. 

“Are you getting close?” she asked, her hand moving slower.

He nodded. “Don’t stop, please,” he said under his breath, his body becoming more and more stiff.

She sucked his cock harder than before, concentrating on his head while her hand stroked the rest. His hip movements became irregular, his body started spasming. He gripped her hair like he was afraid it might disappear and a few strokes later, his voice filled the room as he came in Lyra’s mouth.

His body became limp, his arm falling at his sides feeling like overcooked noodles. He looked at Lyra who was wiping her bottom lip with her thumb, looking back at him with a triumphant expression. 

“You taste really good,” she purred as she crawled up to him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

_ Fuck.  _ This girl was going to be the death of him. He wanted to do so many filthy things to her but his body turned to butter.

Then he heard a car pull into the driveway.

Thankfully, Lyra heard it too. The two shared a panicked look before scrambling out of the bed to find their shirts. Lyra found hers pretty easily but Harry’s shirt seemed to have fallen into another plane. 

“Where the  _ fuck _ is it?” Harry grumbled.

“I don’t know,” she replied, sitting on his desk chair. “Just put on another one. Hurry!” 

The front door opened and he could hear someone coming up the stairs. He grabbed a new shirt from his dresser and tossed it on, giving him enough time to sit on his bed before aunt Petunia came into his room.

“Hi,” Harry said casually.

Petunia narrowed her eyes very slightly at him. “Hi,” she repeated dryly. “Here are your new glasses,” she said, handing him a small shopping bag.

“Oh, great!” 

She turned to Lyra. “Thank you so much for staying here,” she said in her usual cordial tone.

“It was no problem at all.” How she could sound so innocent after almost sucking the life out of him was a mystery for Harry.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?”

“I would love to, but I have to leave soon so I’ll have to pass.”

“Oh, okay. Another time perhaps.” She turned back to Harry. “Did you take your medication?”

“Yes,” he answered as he opened the case with his new glasses inside.

She gave him a nod. “Good. I’ll go get dinner started,” she said before walking out of the room, leaving the door open.

Harry and Lyra looked at each other in complicity before laughing out loud for a moment. 

“Let me see your glasses,” she said.

He took them out of the case and put them on. It took a moment for his eyes to get used to them but he was definitely glad that he could see well again. “How do I look?”

She smiled. “Handsome as always.”

“How would you know? You’re even more blind than I am.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Fuck you, then. That’s the last time I'll give you a compliment.”

He laughed for a bit while she glared at him trying to hide a smile. “Do you really have to go?” he asked her.

She sighed. “Yeah, my shift starts at 8.”

“Oh,” he replied, disappointed.  _ Don’t go to work. I’ll pay all your bills. I’ll make sure you don’t have to work a day in your life. _ “So when will I see you again?”

“We did make plans for tomorrow, are you still up for it?”

“We did?”

“Yes, stupid. Tomorrow’s your birthday.”

His eyes went wide. “Really? How long have I been asleep for?”

“Definitely more than a week.”

“A week?!”

“More than a week,” she corrected. “About ten days if I’m remembering it right.”

He sat back on his bed, feeling defeated. “Fuck. I thought it had been only one or two days.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it, babe.” She moved to the bed and sat by his side, hooking her arm around his and resting her head on his shoulder. “You’re healed, that’s what’s important.”

He grumbled. “But I wanted to spend time with you. We already have our days numbered, now I wasted all this time sleeping.”

“You’re making it sound like we’re going to die.”

“Well, not us but our relationship is.”

She sighed and snuggled closer to him. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

He took her hand. “Me too.” 

“Maybe when you’re done with school we can continue dating.”

He turned to her. “You think so?”

She shrugged. “Unless you meet another girl and forget about me,” she said, looking into his eyes. “I would wait for you.”

Harry stared at her in surprise at what she just said. “You would?”

She nodded. “I would.”

Harry stared at her for a moment before taking her face in his hand and kissing her. That statement should make him the happiest guy in the world, but it only gave him a sense of dread. He couldn’t guarantee that he would come back, and he certainly didn’t want to put a target on her back by staying together. He couldn’t ask her to wait for him, but he also couldn’t ask her not to without sounding like he doesn’t love her.

_ Love. _

“I love you, Lyra,” he said before he was able to stop himself.

She gave him a smile. “You’re not just saying that because I sucked your dick, right?”

He laughed. “No! Although it did contribute greatly.”

She let out a giggle before wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Harry.”

They kissed again. Then, a rattling sound interrupted them. 

“What was that?” she asked, looking around. 

Harry glanced at Hedwig’s covered cage, trying to telepathically tell her to stay quiet until Lyra left, but it was almost dark out. The cage rattled again, this time Lyra saw it.

“What do you have under there?”

He stammered. “Nothing.”

“Well, your nothing is shaking under that blanket.”

He sighed. “It’s my pet bird,” he said, hoping she didn’t have any follow up questions.

“You have a pet bird and you didn’t tell me? I love birds!”

_ Fuck.  _ “Yeah, she doesn’t really like strangers.”

“Oh, it’s a she? That’s so cute! Just let me see her, I won’t touch her unless she lets me.”

Harry was panicking. Hedwig wouldn’t stop rattling her cage and Lyra was pleading with her hands together like a little girl. This was a worst case scenario. 

“You won’t take no for an answer, will you?”

Lyra shook her head eagerly.

He sighed. “Please don’t think I’m weird.”

“Why would I think you’re weird?”

“Because normal people don’t have this kind of bird as pets.”

“Harry, a lot of people have exotic birds as pets. When I was five my parents gave me a white peacock as a present.”

He laughed. “A what?”

“Exactly. So don’t feel weird.”

Harry took a deep breath. Lyra was right, a lot of people have exotic birds. Why would she suspect anything? “Okay, hang on.”

Lyra cheered and clapped as Harry walked over to Hedwig’s cage and lifted the blanket carefully.

She let out a soft gasp. “That’s… That’s the snowy owl I’ve been seeing at night. She’s your pet?”

“Yeah.” He opened the cage and Hedwig climbed into his arm like she always did. “You wanna touch her?”

“I thought you said she doesn’t like strangers.”

“I lied,” he admitted. “I only said that to try to discourage you.”

She shot him a glare. “Well you underestimated how much I love birds.”

“I can see that.” He sat on the bed. “Go ahead, touch her. She won’t bite.”

Lyra bit her lip nervously as she reached towards Hedwig with her hand. Hedwig didn’t protest, she closed her eyes and ruffled her feathers when Lyra scratched her head.

“She’s gorgeous. What’s her name?”

“Hedwig.”

“That’s cute. What do you do with her when you go to school?”

“I take her with me.”

“Really? They allow that?”

“Yeah.”

Lyra gave him a look that he couldn’t quite understand but then Hedwig flapped her wings, startling both of them.

“It’s okay,” Harry said. “She just wants to go outside.”

Harry went to the window and opened it, letting Hedwig out into the night. When he turned around, Lyra was standing in front of him. “Everything okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “I have to go now, though.”

“Oh, right. I’ll walk you out.”

The two went down the stairs and out the front door where Lyra’s car was parked right out front. Before she got in, Harry gave her a big hug and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yes. I’ll pick you up around nine.”

“In the morning?” he asked, to which she replied by nodding. “Sure. What are we doing?”

“We’re going to have breakfast at the same cafe we went on our first date and then we can go out into the town or we can go home and  _ not _ watch movies.”

He grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

“I knew you would.” She kissed him on the lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Harry watched as Lyra got in her car and drove off, asking himself how this girl could make him feel so happy and so sad at the same time.


End file.
